susan harkins

Blog Post

Office solution: You can change the defaults for PowerPoint text boxes

November 23, 2011 12:39am PST

Learn the solution to last week's Office challenge: Can you change the defaults for PowerPoint text boxes?

Blog Post

Office challenge: Why doesn't [Ctrl]+z work anymore?

November 23, 2011 12:35am PST

This week, test your general Office skills by discovering why a user's [Ctrl]+z shortcut no longer cancels the last action.

8 Latest comment by zimmerwoman

Blog Post

Use an accessibility option to alert yourself to toggle keys

November 22, 2011 1:33pm PST

If you accidentally hit the CapsLock key often, you might want to relieve the frustration with this accessibility option.

2 Latest comment by ian@...

Blog Post

Quickly add a header or footer to every sheet in an Excel workbook

November 22, 2011 10:33am PST

You don't have to add a header to every Excel worksheet individually when you can group them first.

8 Latest comment by hougs

Blog Post

Animate individual elements of a PowerPoint chart

November 22, 2011 10:27am PST

PowerPoint will let you animate chart elements, but the option's not easy to find. If you don't know about it, you might not even go looking for it.

7 Latest comment by ssharkins@...

Blog Post

10 ways to improve Excel performance

November 18, 2011 6:51am PST

You don't have to live with sluggish workbooks. Try these tricks for a noticeable boost in performance.

23 Latest comment by Rob-dawg!

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Office solution: Why an IF() might return an unexpected result

November 17, 2011 11:47am PST

This week, learn about string comparison from the discussion that followed last week's Office challenge: When an IF() returns FALSE, when it should return TRUE.

2 Latest comment by ssharkins@...

Blog Post

Office challenge: Can you change the defaults for PowerPoint text boxes?

November 17, 2011 11:43am PST

This week, show your PowerPoint prowess by showing us how to change defaults for text boxes.

2 Latest comment by Nebraska Jack

Blog Post

Emphasize a picture in a Word doc by changing its shape

November 16, 2011 10:42am PST

Square is square. However, you can change a square picture in a Word doc to any number of shapes in just a few quick steps.

9 Latest comment by fishcad

Blog Post

Use SmartArt to create a more interesting bulleted list in Word

November 15, 2011 8:00am PST

Ordinary bullets are adequate for most Word documents, but when you need to add more style, try SmartArt.

3 Latest comment by skooboy

Blog Post

Five add-ins for users who hate the Office Ribbon

November 15, 2011 5:59am PST

Those who pine for the classic Office menu structure can re-create it, thanks to a variety of affordable add-ins.

12 Latest comment by Peter_Pan_7

Blog Post

10 ways to stay focused on the task at hand

November 14, 2011 3:40pm PST

If you're forever falling behind on your work because you cave in to distractions, see if a few of these tricks can help you stay on track.

5 Latest comment by ssharkins@...

Blog Post

Use SUMIFS() to sum by multiple conditions in Excel

November 14, 2011 11:25am PST

Excel's SUMIF() lets you sum values, conditionally. It's new sibling, SUMIFS() lets you sum values by multiple conditions.

8 Latest comment by peter.r7

Blog Post

Office solution: Improving Excel's charting defaults

November 10, 2011 12:51pm PST

Here's a few improvements to last week's default chart; what changes would you make to improve this chart?

1 Latest comment by Ian005

Blog Post

Office challenge: When an IF() returns FALSE, when it should return TRUE

November 10, 2011 12:47pm PST

This week, your challenge is to discover why a seemingly perfect IF() function returns the wrong result.

43 Latest comment by marj@...

Blog Post

Five Microsoft Excel chart types we all should avoid

November 9, 2011 7:35am PST

Microsoft Excel provides a number of charts types and styles that ordinary mortals should never try to tame.

56 Latest comment by ssharkins@...

Blog Post

Ignore unwanted email conversations in Outlook

November 8, 2011 8:44am PST

Outlook lets you completely ignore an email conversation with a simple click or two of the mouse. Susan Harkins shows you how.

7 Latest comment by CharlieSpencer_Palmetto

Blog Post

Avoid unnecessary page breaks by using Word styles

November 7, 2011 11:29am PST

Using styles, Word can control page breaks better than you. Learn how to use styles to insert hard page breaks.

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Blog Post

Office challenge: Improve this Excel chart anyway you want

November 3, 2011 8:02am PDT

This week, impress your colleagues with your Excel charting skills! Improve this Excel chart based on default settings.

3 Latest comment by ssharkins@...

Blog Post

Office solution: How to display the Close All command for ribbon users

November 3, 2011 7:53am PDT

This week, learn the solution to last week's challenge: How to close all open files in Word 2007.

4 Latest comment by ssharkins@...