Hello Again:
Sorry, I know it's been a while and I'm sure you all have been anxiously waiting for the next blog...
I find many people using MS Office applications understand "font" as something to do with formatting but may not understand the concept of formatting including Styles and Themes. Thus below is my attempt to 'put things in conceptual perspective'.
In several prior blogs I have discussed certain concepts related to formatting; for me 'appearance' is my synonym, how the data or information looks.
As I see it, MS Office has 3 "levels" or hierarchy of formatting. There are the individual formats such as font, font size, font color, alignment, etc. Then there are Styles, which are several aspects of formatting predefined and used by default. In MS Office applications, the Style is called Normal (see blog Sept 2010 about Word Styles). The definition of Normal Style depends on the application. For example, in Word 2007, Normal Style uses Calibri 11 (and other formats) while Excel uses Arial 10 (and other formats) as the Style Normal.
In addition (particularly in MS Office 2007 and 2010) there is another aspect of formatting called a Theme. Themes are aspect of formatting that no only effect text but also effect the appearance of objects, such as pictures, charts, drawings, smart art, etc.
There are a set of Themes (Page Layout Ribbon) that are available in the MS Office 2007 and 2010 applications that can be applied to the document, spreadsheet, or presentation that define formatting for Colors schemes, Font schemes, and Effects schemes that are applied to the text and objects.
MS Office applications use the same set of Themes such that one can create consistency of the "look and feel" of your documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.
In the Themes command group there are options to choose a Theme out of the gallery such as Apex or Flow, "Office" is the default Theme. You can also customize the Theme by choosing which Colors scheme, Font scheme, and Effects scheme you want to use. Of course each of these aspects of a Theme can be customized and saved your custom Theme.
There you have it, looking into changing how things look using MS Office applications. If you can't impress them with brilliance, dazzel them with formatting. Good luck otherwise...
Take care in the meantime until next time, Joel.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
A Whole Other Dimension to Formatting, Conditional Fomatting in Excel 2007
Hello Again:
Hope all survived the Holiday Season and Happy New Year.
Although Conditional Formatting is not new to Excel 2007, the possibilities of conditional formatting have been greatly expanded in 2007 relative to prior versions.
Conditional formatting (hence the name) allows formats to be applied based on defined conditions. A conditional format can be defined based on the following:
Range of Cell Values - Format a range containing values from lowest to highest. Formats can be 2 or 3 color variations (color shade varies from low to high values), data bars (bars of color in cell based on cell value within range, like a bar graph), or icon sets (icons related to value of cell within range). An example would be a range of values form 1 to 10 vary from blue to red.
Cell Contents - Format a cell based on contents (containing a specific value, text, date). An example would be cells within a range containing 10 would be blue.
Cell Range Rankings - Format a range containing values based on ranking in range (top 10%, eg). An example would be the cells that are in the top 10% of a range of values from 1 to 100 would be green.
Cell Range Average - Format a range containing values based on average of range (above or below average). An example would be the cells that are above average within a range of values from 1 to 100 would be green.
Cell Range Unique or Duplicate Values - Format a range containing unique or duplicates values. An example would be cells containing duplicates within a range of values would be red.
Cell Formulas - Format a range based on a formula being true or false. An example would be a formatting odd rows on a worksheet by using =MOD(ROW(),2)=1 as the formula and then defining the rows and format like gray fill. 10 Bonus Points to those whose see the formula logic!
So where is the Conditional Format option anyway??
In the Home ribbon, Styles command group, there is a button for Conditional Formatting. There are 5 predefined options (Highlight cells, Top/bottom, Data Bars, Color Scales, and Icon Sets). At the bottom of the list are options for New Rules, Clear Rules, or Manage Rules. New Rules allow one to create and define custom rules as per above.
As you can imagine, there are now many options as to formatting other than just bold. HA!
Take care in the meantime until next time, Joel.
Hope all survived the Holiday Season and Happy New Year.
Although Conditional Formatting is not new to Excel 2007, the possibilities of conditional formatting have been greatly expanded in 2007 relative to prior versions.
Conditional formatting (hence the name) allows formats to be applied based on defined conditions. A conditional format can be defined based on the following:
Range of Cell Values - Format a range containing values from lowest to highest. Formats can be 2 or 3 color variations (color shade varies from low to high values), data bars (bars of color in cell based on cell value within range, like a bar graph), or icon sets (icons related to value of cell within range). An example would be a range of values form 1 to 10 vary from blue to red.
Cell Contents - Format a cell based on contents (containing a specific value, text, date). An example would be cells within a range containing 10 would be blue.
Cell Range Rankings - Format a range containing values based on ranking in range (top 10%, eg). An example would be the cells that are in the top 10% of a range of values from 1 to 100 would be green.
Cell Range Average - Format a range containing values based on average of range (above or below average). An example would be the cells that are above average within a range of values from 1 to 100 would be green.
Cell Range Unique or Duplicate Values - Format a range containing unique or duplicates values. An example would be cells containing duplicates within a range of values would be red.
Cell Formulas - Format a range based on a formula being true or false. An example would be a formatting odd rows on a worksheet by using =MOD(ROW(),2)=1 as the formula and then defining the rows and format like gray fill. 10 Bonus Points to those whose see the formula logic!
So where is the Conditional Format option anyway??
In the Home ribbon, Styles command group, there is a button for Conditional Formatting. There are 5 predefined options (Highlight cells, Top/bottom, Data Bars, Color Scales, and Icon Sets). At the bottom of the list are options for New Rules, Clear Rules, or Manage Rules. New Rules allow one to create and define custom rules as per above.
As you can imagine, there are now many options as to formatting other than just bold. HA!
Take care in the meantime until next time, Joel.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Take Control of AutoCorrect Options
Hello Again:
If you have used MS Word, then you have experienced "AutoCorrect". As one may be aware, there are many things that become Automatically "corrected" when typing in a Word document (and other Office Applications). This can be good news or bad news, there are the pros and cons, the yen/yang, the double edged sword...
Microsoft (as always) has made some important decisions for you about the AutoCorrect feature. And, as most of the time, you have options about these decisions.
To get to the option settings in Word, in version 2003 and earlier, Tools>AutoCorrect Options (AutoCorrect Tab) and in 2007 Click the Office button and choose Word Options in the lower right-hand corner of the menu then click Proofing Options (on the left), you will then see a button to get to the AutoCorrect options dialog box. In the AutoCorrect dialog box, there is a tab with the AutoCorrect options: Here is where you can see the specific options that are ON by default. Clearly, here is where you have the option to turn things OFF if you don't want the AutoCorrect feature. Be aware that the AutoCorrect options can be set through any Office Application and the current settings effect all of the Office Applications.
Specifically you have access to the Replace Text as You Type feature which can be used to replace common typos or what ever you want. For example you could setup replace Breck with Breckenridge to save some typing time. You can also delete entries in the list (select and entry in the list and click Delete) or turn the feature OFF if you don't want to use the replace as you type feature at all.
Another handy option is the Exceptions which applies to Capitalize first word of sentence, Correct Two Initial Capitals, and Other Corrections. After a period (.) Word is set to automatically capitalize the next word (assumes a new sentence). This is fine except for after abbreviations where the next word is not Capitalized and thus enter these Exceptions in the list. You can also list words with two capital letters that are NOT to be "fixed" such as "ID's" as well as Other Corrections as Exceptions to AutoCorrect options that are ON.
So, by "tweaking" these options, you can get Word (and the other Office Applications) to do what you want them to do as far as AutoCorrect options. Getting the settings to work for you can create tremendous efficiency.
Take care in the meantime until next time, Joel
If you have used MS Word, then you have experienced "AutoCorrect". As one may be aware, there are many things that become Automatically "corrected" when typing in a Word document (and other Office Applications). This can be good news or bad news, there are the pros and cons, the yen/yang, the double edged sword...
Microsoft (as always) has made some important decisions for you about the AutoCorrect feature. And, as most of the time, you have options about these decisions.
To get to the option settings in Word, in version 2003 and earlier, Tools>AutoCorrect Options (AutoCorrect Tab) and in 2007 Click the Office button and choose Word Options in the lower right-hand corner of the menu then click Proofing Options (on the left), you will then see a button to get to the AutoCorrect options dialog box. In the AutoCorrect dialog box, there is a tab with the AutoCorrect options: Here is where you can see the specific options that are ON by default. Clearly, here is where you have the option to turn things OFF if you don't want the AutoCorrect feature. Be aware that the AutoCorrect options can be set through any Office Application and the current settings effect all of the Office Applications.
Specifically you have access to the Replace Text as You Type feature which can be used to replace common typos or what ever you want. For example you could setup replace Breck with Breckenridge to save some typing time. You can also delete entries in the list (select and entry in the list and click Delete) or turn the feature OFF if you don't want to use the replace as you type feature at all.
Another handy option is the Exceptions which applies to Capitalize first word of sentence, Correct Two Initial Capitals, and Other Corrections. After a period (.) Word is set to automatically capitalize the next word (assumes a new sentence). This is fine except for after abbreviations where the next word is not Capitalized and thus enter these Exceptions in the list. You can also list words with two capital letters that are NOT to be "fixed" such as "ID's" as well as Other Corrections as Exceptions to AutoCorrect options that are ON.
So, by "tweaking" these options, you can get Word (and the other Office Applications) to do what you want them to do as far as AutoCorrect options. Getting the settings to work for you can create tremendous efficiency.
Take care in the meantime until next time, Joel
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
