The Tribe of Adminsa home for wayward admins

I’ve posted an Excel Wiki – I call them “faux-wikis” because you need to click contact or add a comment to edit or add to it, rather than editing directly as you would in a true wiki. It’s ready for your input!

So far, it’s connected to a page about reversing last name first lists and putting them into one column, and some posts about viewing Excel on dual monitors, solving the problem of all of your data pasting into a single cell, and counting multiple variables.

And here’s a silly little tip:

Check marks are useful little critters, and you can use them for counting, too. Many fonts use Alt (Option on Mac) V for a check, but many fonts – especially in Windows – don’t. That means you have to choose Insert>Symbol, find the check mark and insert it. Repeat every time you want it, or copy and paste. More trouble than it’s worth!

Easy fix: Insert a column for your check marks. If you have the font Marlett, change highlight the column and change it to that font. The letter “a” is a check in Marlett.

Now, to count:

Select a cell to enter your count in. Change it to a normal font or you’ll be very confused! Enter: 

=COUNTIF(C1:C3,”a”)

The C1 and C3 should be changed to the top cell of your check mark column and the bottom cell of that column.

Here’s how you get to that formula if you want to do it from scratch: Under the ∑ symbol on your tool bar, or Insert>Function, choose or search for COUNTIF. Once you’ve selected it, a box will open. Click in the first box then click into your column and drag from the top to the bottom, or select it in your favorite manner. Now click in the second box and type “a.” Hit enter.

That’s it!

Related Posts:

• Excel Window is Too Big
• Randomizing a List of Words or Names
• LauraJ’s Weblog : Excel tip: Split first name and last name into separate cells
• How to Count the Number of Days between Two Dates
• Lots of New Stuff
• Counting Multiple Variables in Excel
• A New Webhost and Winning an iPad
• Accepting a Previously Declined Invitation
• Picture Doesn’t Show in Word
• Can I Create a PDF without Adobe Acrobat?

The solutions to those annoying “function cannot be performed” messages have been posted in items 7 and 8 of the Outlook FAQ.

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• Accepting a Previously Declined Invitation
• Not Seeing Your Outlook Question? Try This!
• Outlook Invitation Disappears When You Decline
• Drunken Time Zones in Outlook
• About that double-booked room…
• The Outlook FAQ
• Managing Time Zones in Outlook
• Mangled Meeting Title?

The site has updated with lots of new information. An Adobe Acrobat Faux Wiki has been added with a couple of supporting pages to address some of those nagging PDF issues and open the floor to questions and tips.

There’s a new page on how to get rid of that annoying markup that remains when you print Word documents after tracking changes here.

Ever paste a table into Excel, only to have it all show up in one cell? Here’s a solution that’s just been moved into the Word Faux Wiki.

There’s a page on The Wonder of Snag-it, a big problem solver for admins.

Finally, there’s a new post right below this one on how to count multiple variables in Excel that will eventually become part of an Excel section.

You might notice a few more little ads at the bottom of the pages. I remain committed to keeping it to a minimum, but I could use a little help supporting site, so if you want any of the software or books you see here, click through!

If you want to be notified of the updates on this site, click on RSS or on “RSS” down at the very bottom of the page. Once you’re there, choose “subscribe in mail” near the bottom of the right hand sidebar.

Cheers!

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Related Posts:

• Can I Create a PDF without Adobe Acrobat?
• How to Print Webpages Properly
• Picture Doesn’t Show in Word
• Who Loves Office 2007?
• Editing PDF Files That Won’t Be Edited
• Excel Window is Too Big
• New Excel Wiki and Counting Check Marks
• Wanted: Guest Gurus
• Wikiing Up to Word
• How to Count the Number of Days between Two Dates

I don’t use the full range of Excel, and the people who create it don’t think like I do. Those two factors make the directions difficult for me to follow. Halfway through I’m thinking “What are they going on about??” It just isn’t how I would do it. If you have the same problem and have figured out a few tricks, send them in. Here’s one of my own:

Sometimes I need to count more that one variable in a line, but I can never remember the formula. I finally saved a small spreadsheet with the formula in and called it, “How to Count Multiple Variables in Excel.” Imaginative, aren’t I? If you can’t remember it either, use this formula:

=IF(AND(D3=”d”,E3 =”yes”), 1, “0″)

That means if cell D3 consists of the letter “d” and the cell E3 has the word “yes,” count it. If not, enter “0.” The last set of quotations is for the value “if false.” If you leave out the zero and just use:

=IF(AND(D3=”d”,E3 =”yes”), 1, “”)

Excel will leave the cell blank if both variables are not true.

Of course you would use your own cell numbers and entries.

Click into a blank cell at the end of the column you’ve been entering this formula into and choose “Autosum.” You can find this by clicking on ∑ in your toolbar, by choosing “function” from the insert menu (or pane in 2008), or right clicking then choosing “insert function.” If you use one of the latter methods, you’ll then need to choose “sum.” If you click on ∑ and haven’t pulled down to another choice recently, it will default to “sum.” One click totals! Any way you do it, you’ll have the total number of rows that meet your criterion of having both the specified variables. Clever bugger, isn’t it?

Have an Excel question? Send it in here. More about Excel:

Excel Wiki

Reversing Last Name First Lists into a Single Excel Column

Counting Check Marks

Everything Pasted into One Cell!

How to View Excel on Multiple Monitors

Related Posts:

• How to Count the Number of Days between Two Dates
• Excel Window is Too Big
• Randomizing a List of Words or Names
• LauraJ’s Weblog : Excel tip: Split first name and last name into separate cells
• New Excel Wiki and Counting Check Marks
• Wikiing Up to Word
• Picture Doesn’t Show in Word
• Can I Create a PDF without Adobe Acrobat?
• Lots of New Stuff
• Wanted: Guest Gurus

Don’t all respond at once – your silence is deafening me.

2007 is a shock to the system. If you haven’t seen it yet, here’s what you need to be prepared for: Microsoft has taken the “language” we’ve known since the mid-eighties and changed it. They’ve moved from a single menu system to tabs (which they call “panes.” I call them “pains.”) The menu bar is a list of the pane choices. Once you choose a pane, you see the tool bar appropriate to that pane.

Below you see the “Home” pane in Word.
 

If you were to click on the “Insert” pane, you would see this:

Get it?

When I tested it, it seemed familiar enough that I thought I would adjust pretty easily, but it’s been a chore. I encourage you to spend some time attempting complex tasks before you have a 42-page PowerPoint due in an hour.

The things that really flummoxed me were things like finding borders for a table in PowerPoint. They’re taken formatting backwards a couple of decades. You have to choose a pen color, choose a pen size, then drop-down to each side you want a border on, one at a time. No more just opening a window and clicking the borders you want. Oy! The real stopper was finding where the heck the borders were (Table/Design pane).

The truth is, new things stink. They aren’t the old things, therefore they’re wrong. Forget how much you yelled at the old thing, this new thing stinks. In a year, this will be the old thing and the only right way to do it, but it in the meantime, it stinks!

While you’re waiting for it to become the old thing, I have a few tips for saving yourself in an emergency. First of all, the answer is, it’s under that picture on the top left. When you’re losing you’re mind, look there. Basically, it’s the old “File” menu. It tends to flash in some programs, which makes me block it out – I don’t even see it as something to work with.

The next important thing is right next to it: see that little group of icons on the top left? There’s a pull-down arrow next to them. Pull down to “More Commands.” On the left side, highlight “Customize.” You’ll see a pull-down box, probably saying “Popular Commands.” Pull down to “All Commands.”  All available commands will be listed in alphabetical order. Choose the ones you expect to use often and click the arrow to put them into the pane on the right. You can highlight them and use up and down arrows to arrange them. When you finish, click OK and all those icons will be at the top left, next to the big round (possibly flashing) icon. You may not want them there forever, but at least you’ll be able to find things.

And when all else fails, “Help” is that teeny, tiny blue question mark that blends right in located in right corner of the toolbar, er, pain.

While you’re swearing, think about this: the Mac version of Word 2008 is much, much worse. There are no tabs – you have to pull down every single palette, one at a time from “View” one the toolbar. A pallet pops up and floats around, in the way. You have to keep minimizing and maximizing it. New things stink.

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• Picture Doesn’t Show in Word
• Can I Create a PDF without Adobe Acrobat?
• Lots of New Stuff
• Editing PDF Files That Won’t Be Edited
• How to Count the Number of Days between Two Dates
• Excel Window is Too Big
• Randomizing a List of Words or Names
• LauraJ’s Weblog : Excel tip: Split first name and last name into separate cells
• A New Webhost and Winning an iPad
• Accepting a Previously Declined Invitation

Some of you have asked about meetings in Outlook turning up an hour (or several hours) off. How to Manage Time Zones in Outlook has been updated to address these  random changes.

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• Excel Window is Too Big

Does your meeting title–or even the meeting itself–suddenly appear to be gibberish? It’s the Blackberry’s fault!  Look at item 6 in the Outlook FAQ.

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Whatever software you want to use, that picture is in the wrong format. Word to the rescue!

If, for example, you just removed the pink highlights from the boss’ receipts in Photoshop so they wouldn’t appear blacked-out when you fax them with his expense reports (are you a star, or what?), but now you need to insert them into something that only accepts JPG (okay, I can’t come up with a reason why you would need to do that…just go with it), you can solve it with Word.

Insert your PDF into Word (Insert…Picture from file)

Right click and choose “Save as Picture…”

In the “Format” drop down box, choose “JPG”

Voilà!

Related Posts:

• Picture Doesn’t Show in Word
• Can I Create a PDF without Adobe Acrobat?
• Editing PDF Files That Won’t Be Edited
• How to Count the Number of Days between Two Dates
• Lots of New Stuff
• Who Loves Office 2007?
• How to Print Webpages Properly
• How to Convert a Scanned File to a Word Doc.

Ever booked a room in Outlook only to discover at meeting time that there’s a roomful of people glaring at your team for interrupting their meeting? You booked that room…you know you booked that room…and you did. It’s in the meeting notice and the room accepted. You sweetly–and self-righteously–point this out to the invaders, only to discover that they have a properly accepted room reservation, too. Find out what happened here.

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• Not Seeing Your Outlook Question? Try This!
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• Outlook FAQ Has Updated
• Drunken Time Zones in Outlook
• The Outlook FAQ
• Managing Time Zones in Outlook
• Mangled Meeting Title?

The Outlook FAQ has updated. A question about the handling of long distribution lists and the frustation of the name check feature has been added and answered.

Looking for the Forum? Click here.

Related Posts:

• Accepting a Previously Declined Invitation
• Not Seeing Your Outlook Question? Try This!
• Outlook Invitation Disappears When You Decline
• Outlook FAQ Has Updated
• Drunken Time Zones in Outlook
• About that double-booked room…
• Managing Time Zones in Outlook
• Mangled Meeting Title?