maryannrichardson

Your users shouldn’t have to manually type the current date over and over into an Access form. Save them some time and effort by automating the process.

One simple way to improve your report design is to number each item. Mary Ann Richardson steps through an example that demonstrates this technique.

Here’s a truly efficient way to get rid of garbage characters that have tagged along with imported data: Just let the Excel CLEAN function remove them for you.

If you need to split a list of names into two columns, you don’t have to do it manually. See how this Excel wizard can quickly knock out the task for you.

Reformatting data you’ve imported into Excel can be tricky if it comes in as text. Here are two tricks for working around this problem.

Word’s spacing options can throw your text out of alignment if you have multiple columns. Here’s a quick fix that will even things up.

Excel lets you vary the calculations you perform on specified cells using a single formula. Here’s a look at how the technique works and one good example of when you might want to use it.

You can expand the usefulness of Word’s Find and Replace functionality by using it to remove and/or apply specified formatting throughout a document.

Make life easier for your Access users by building a parameter query that lets them search for specific text. Instead of fumbling around with wildcard characters, they can just enter the search string and zero in on the desired data.

When your users need to run a parameter query while they’re working in a form, this custom button will save them some time.

It’s easy to define a custom style for your document titles — and it will greatly simplify the task of formatting title text. Mary Ann Richardson explains how to do it.

If you query your Access database to generate a mailing list, but the list contains duplicate names and addresses, this helpful trick will save you some time. See how tweaking the query properties can ensure a list with unique entries.