The Excel Web App now gives users the ability to insert, delete or rename sheets as well as use tools like AutoSum and formula assistance, making it more like the real Office Excel program.

One additional and probably much needed update is seen in the PowerPoint Web App. Now you have the ability to change your themes right inside of the Web App. You can choose from more than 45 themes, most of which you can find in PowerPoint 2010.

Office Web Apps is now available to Windows Live SkyDrive and Hotmail users worldwide.

Software/Hardware used: Office 2011 running on Mac OS 10.6, but the guide should apply to all versions of Excel.

1. Click the cell where you would like the difference (the result) to appear.

2. To subtract a number in Excel you will need to write out a formula that reads as follows:

= ‘CELLA’ – ‘CELLB’

Cells A and B refer to a specific cell on the spreadsheet so if the first value you wish to use in the formula is in cell D1 and the second value is in D2 your formula should look like this:

= D1 - D2

It is important that the equals (=) sign precede the cell references (equals sign always goes first when composing a formula) and that you use the minus (-) sign between the two cell references.

There are two places where the formula can be entered.

A. You can enter the formula in the cell where you wish the results to appear, or…

B. With results cell selected you can use the Functions text box to enter the formula you wish to use, in this case the formula described above.

If you prefer to select the cells instead of entering the cell references manually you can start the formula by typing the = sign in the cell or the formula bar and then clicking on the cell containing the first value. After that enter the – sign and click on the cell containing the second value.

When you are done entering the formula, press the Enter/Return key on your keyboard and the difference should appear (see below).

C. The result will appear in the cell containing the formula. You can edit the formula by modifying it on the formula bar or by double-clicking the cell containing the formula and editing it in the cell.

To use the hide gridlines feature, just simple click on the View menu and select Hide gridlines and your spreadsheet will look instantly better.

Have any other Google Spreadsheet tips to share? Please use the comments form below.

Software/Hardware used: Excel 2011 and Word 2011 running on Mac OS X.

Before proceeding the first thing you need to do is ensure that you have a properly formatted Excel spreadsheet to use as the data source for your labels. Try to keep data fields like Address, City, State, and Zip Code in separate columns (see example below).

How to Print Labels in Word 2011 with Mail Merge Manager

Open Mail Merge Manager in Word 2011

1. Create a blank document in Word 2011 and click Tools.

2. Click Mail Merge Manager from the list.

Prepare Mail Merge for Label Printing

First thing we need to do is select the document type that you will be printing. In this case we will be printing labels, but you can also print form letters, envelopes, and catalog.

1. In the Mail Merge Manager window click on Select Document Type to expand the selection. Click the Create New button to select Labels from the list.

2. Select the Label product company from the list, in this example I used Avery label number 5161. Make sure to select the company and label number.

3. Verify that the label dimensions are correct and click OK.

Now that we have the correct label selected we will need to select the data source for the names and addresses that will be printed on the labels, expand the Select Recipients List section in the Mail Merge Manager to continue.

4. Click Get List and select Open Data Source from the list.

Note: This is where you can choose a FileMaker database, Apple Address book, or Office Address book as a data source.

5. When the dialog box opens select the pre-formatted Excel spreadsheet containing the address list and click Open.

6. You will see the following prompt, click OK to continue.

7. Select the sheet that contains the address list data from the Excel workbook. If you have a specific range you wish to select enter it in the Cell Range text box, click OK to proceed.

So we’ve got the label type selected and we have the data, let’s tell Mail Merge what data fields from the list to use for the label.

8. Use the Insert Merge Field drop-down to select the fields you wish to include in the label. In my case the spreadsheet had columns (fields) for Name, Address, City, State, and Zip Code. Choose each of the fields to add them in the order you wish to appear. You should also take this opportunity to place spaces and commas to divide the information.

Example:

<<Name>>

<<Address>>

<<City>>, <<State>> <<Zip>>

Notice that I placed the Name, Address, and City/State/Zip fields in separate lines and that I added a space and comma between City and State. Formatting is up to you, but this will ensure that when the data is pulled it isn’t bunched up together.

When you are ready to proceed click OK.

If you click OK and wish to edit the data fields use the placeholders in the Insert Placeholder section to drag fields to the label sheet.

We’re almost ready to print, but before we do that let’s see what the labels will look like.

9. Click on the View Merged Data button in the Preview Results section to see what your labels will look like. Take this opportunity to format the labels with the standard formatting tools. You can change font size, color, alignment, and more. You can navigate through all of your labels by using the Next Record and Previous Record buttons.

Note: You may want to preview all of your records to ensure that a name doesn’t stick out or overflow in one of your labels.

10. When you are ready to print, click on the Merge to Printer button.

11. When the Print window appears, select the appropriate settings for the print quality and paper size. Click Print to print the labels.

You are set, your labels should print shortly. You can save the document should you wish to print the same labels in the future. If you have any comments or questions please use the comments form below.

Software used: Excel 2010.

How to Enable the Developer Tab in Excel

1. Open Excel and click on File to open the menu.

2. Click Options from the list.

3. When the Excel Options window opens click on Customize Ribbon on the left pane.

4. In the Customize the Ribbon section you will notice a listing of the Main tabs. Add a checkmark to Developer to enable the tab.

5. Click OK to save the changes.

A. When you click on the Developer tab you will have access to all of the developer tools in Excel 2010.

Software used: Excel 2010 running on Windows 7.

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If you have any comments or questions please use the comments form at the end of the article.

Software Used: Office 2010 was used for the screenshots in this guide.

Note: When you save a file in a format that is different from the original application, for example a file is saved in the Office 97-2003 format when you are using Office 2010, you may lose the ability to save some formatting and features that are in Office 2010, but don’t exist in previous versions of Office.

On this guide we will cover the following

How to Change the Default Save Format Word 2010

How to Change the Default Save Format Excel 2010

How to Change the Default Save Format PowerPoint 2010

Word 2010

The firs step in this guide will be the same for all Office applications, the only element that changes is the file formats that are available for each. I will include a screenshot of each application’s file format options.

1. Click on File.

2. Click on Options from the menu.

Note: The two steps above apply to all Excel and PowerPoint as well.

3. When the Word Options window opens click on Save located on the left pane.

4. Under Save Documents click on the Save files in this format drop-down list.

A. Choose one of the file formats that the individuals you correspond with use.

If others have issues opening your Word files I usually recommend setting the default save format to Word 97-2003 Document (*.doc), this usually does the trick. Just keep in mind that if you choose a file format other than the Word 2010 format you may lose formatting and other functionality that is new to Word 2010.

5. Click OK when you are done.

Anytime you create a new Word document and save it for the first time, the default file format that you chose above will be used.

Excel 2010

Follow steps 1-2 above using Excel to reach the Excel Options window pictured below.

3. When the Excel Options window opens click on Save located on the left pane.

4. Under Save Workbooks click on the Save files in this format drop-down list.

A. Choose one of the file formats that the individuals you correspond with use.

If others have issues opening your Excel files I usually recommend setting the default save format to Excel 97-2003 Workbook(*.xls), this usually does the trick. Just keep in mind that if you choose a file format other than the Excel 2010 format you may lose formatting and other functionality that is new to Excel 2010.

5. Click OK when you are done.

Anytime you create a new Workbook in Excel and save it for the first time, the default file format that you chose above will be used.

PowerPoint 2010

Follow steps 1-2 in the Word section using PowerPoint to reach the PowerPoint Options window pictured below.

3. When the PowerPoint Options window opens click on Save located on the left pane.

4. Under Save presentations click on the Save files in this format drop-down list.

A. Choose one of the file formats that the individuals you correspond with use.

If others have issues opening your PowerPoint files I usually recommend setting the default save format to PowerPoint Presentation 97-2003 (*.ppt), this usually does the trick. Just keep in mind that if you choose a file format other than the PowerPoint 2010 format you may lose formatting and other functionality that is new to PowerPoint 2010.

5. Click OK when you are done.

Anytime you create a new presentation in PowerPoint and save it for the first time, the default file format that you chose above will be used.

As you can see in the screenshot above, I have a monthly data set for about 100 keywords. I used Sparklines to give me a visual representation of keyword’s trend over the past 6 months (a small chart per keyword). To learn how to use Sparklines in Excel 2010, please follow the instructions below.

If you have any comments or questions please use the comments form at the end of the article.

Note: I used Excel 2010 for this guide.

1. Click on the cell you would like to insert the Sparkline into.

2. Click on the Insert tab on the Office Ribbon.

3. Click on one of the Sparklines listed. In this guide I plan on using the Line Sparkline because it will show me a linear trend which is what I’m looking for.

You will have the option to use one of the three following options:

Line

Column

Win/Loss

Use the one that best suits your data set.

4. Click on the Data Range button to select the data range.

A. Return to the spreadsheet to select the data you wish to plot with the Sparkline.

5. Click OK to save the range.

A. You will notice that the Sparkline you created will appear in the selected cell.

B. You can edit the Sparkline’s colors, format, and more using the Sparklines > Design Tab on the Office Ribbon.

6. If you wish to copy the Sparkline to other cells using the same formatting simply place the mouse cursor on the corners edge of the cell containing the Sparkline and click.

a. While holding the left mouse button drag down to fill the other cells. Let go of the mouse button when you are done.

If you have any comments or questions please post them in the comments section below.

Note: I used Excel 2010 for this guide.

1. Select the cell or range of cells containing the formatting settings you wish to copy.

2. Click on the Home tab in the Office Ribbon.

3. Click on the Format Painter button in the Clipboard group.

A. You will notice that the mouse cursor changes to a small cross with a paint brush next to it.

4. Click on the cell or select a range of cells that you would like the formatting settings applied to.

The cell formatting settings on the selected cell(s) should match that of the original cell.

Below I will highlight the 6 main tools found in the Formula Auditing Group in the Formulas tab and show you how to use them to discover and correct errors with the formulas you’re working on.

If you have any comments or questions, please post them below.

Note: I used Excel 2010 for this tutorial.

1. To use the Auditing Tools in Excel click on the formula you wish to audit.

2. Click on the Formulas tab in the Office Ribbon.

A. Use one of the tools in the Formula Auditing group. Don’t worry we are going to go over each of these tools below.

3. When you click on the Trace Precedents tool for a selected cell (containing a formula), a set of arrows will appear pointing to the cell. These arrows indicate all of the cells (a), (b), (c), (d), (e) that are included in the formula for the selected (A) cell. These are the “precedents”. This helps you determine where the values that make up your formula come from. You can always figure out which cells the formula relies on by viewing the formula, but this is much more appealing for the visually inclined.

4. The Trace Dependents tool tells you which cells rely or are dependent on the selected cell. This is a great tool when you’re going through a spreadsheet deleting unnecessary information, it can help you determine which cells matter and which don’t. Note how the cell labeled as (A) is a dependent for Cells (a) and (b).

5. If the number of arrows starts to clutter the spreadsheet while auditing formulas you can always click on the Remove Arrows button.

6. Select which arrows you wish to remove.

• Remove Arrows – Removes Precedent and Dependent Arrows.
• Remove Precedent Arrows.
• Remove Dependent Arrows.

Screenshot of cells in normal view.

7. When you click on the Show Formulas button all the cells containing formulas will be displayed.

8. In order to make sure that the formulas you are using are all correct you can click on the Error Checking button.

9. When the Error Checking window opens you will be able to locate any formulas with errors or problems.

You can then go a step further and use the Evaluate Formula tool to evaluate the formula step-by-step.

10. Click on the cell containing the formula you want to evaluate.

11. Click on the Evaluate Formula button. A window will open.

A. You have the option to Evaluate the formula or Stepping In a formula. Both options are a good way to visualize what exactly is occurring in the formula you are auditing.

Evaluate – Will show you each calculation step as it is made within a nested formula.

Step In –The Step In button is great to evaluate a reference in a formula that points to another formula.