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How to Shade Alternating Rows in Excel 2011

Gilberto J Perera — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 14:45:00 +0000

Have you ever tried to shade alternating rows in Excel to discover that selecting and shading individual rows would take a lifetime?

If you have found yourself in this predicament there is a very simple solution. In this guide I will show you how to automatically shade alternating rows in Excel 2011.

The simplest way to automatically shade alternating rows in a spreadsheet is to make them a table.

When you use tables in Excel you will be able to take advantage of not only analytical tools, but also formatting tools that make customizing tables a breeze.

Shade Alternating Rows in Excel

When you use the Table Styles below, the table will automatically include sort fields for each of the columns in the table.

1. Select the range of cells you wish to format using alternating shades for the rows.

Note: Cells can be empty or contain data. Also if you include a heading row, Excel will automatically detect and set it as the heading row.

2. Click the Tables tab on the Office Ribbon.

You will find a slew of tools and options to help you customize your table.

3. For this guide we are interested in Table Styles. Click on one of the available styles to format the range of cells you selected.

You can quickly switch from one style to another to see which you like best.

If you wish to keep the alternating row shading, but not the sort and filter arrows on the column headings follow the additional instructions below.

Remove Table Features

4. Select the table you just created (the range you selected in Step #1).

5. Click Convert to Range in the Tools Group under the Tables tab.

The shading should remain and the other table features should be gone. You have successfully shaded a range of cells with alternating row shades.

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

How to Turn Off Widow/Orphan Control in Word

Gilberto J Perera — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 12:00:00 +0000

One of our Answers users recently posted a great question about widow and orphan control in Word 2010 that I thought should be covered here. Here’s the original question:

“How do I turn off widows and orphans in Word 2010. In other Words I go to Format,paragraph, line and pagebreaks, Can’t find that in 2010.”

The poster is correct, in Word 2007 and 2010 the location of the dialog box for this option moved a bit.

So if you are looking to adjust or turn off Widow and Orphan controls in Word follow the instructions below.

1. Click the Home tab so that it is the active tab in Word.

2. Click the small square with an arrow on the bottom right corner of the Paragraph group on the Ribbon to open the options dialog box.

3. When you click this icon the Paragraph dialog box will appear. Click the Line and Page Breaks tab.

4. In the Pagination section uncheck Widow/Orphan control.

Click OK to save the changes and close the Paragraph dialog box.

By unchecking this option you have turned off Widow/Orphan Control in Word 2010.

If you have any comments or questions please use the comments form below.

Software/Hardware used: Word 2010 running on Windows 7 Ultimate.

Mango Coming Soon to a Windows Phone 7 Near You

Greg Baden — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 14:00:43 +0000

A new Windows Phone release is scheduled to come to a phone near you. The new release, scheduled for this Fall, named Mango, includes hundreds of new features which were announced at the Mango Press Conference. Mango will be available in more languages including: Chinese (simplified and traditional), Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, and Swedish. By the fall, Microsoft is expecting to have doubled its current app count in Marketplace, projecting near 34,000 apps.

With Mango you will see easier communications between all of your social accounts. Users will see the following updates:

Threads
Groups
Deeper social network integration
Linked Inbox
Hands-free messaging

With more apps coming to the market Mango will introduce some a smarter approach to apps, including:

App Connect
Improved Live Tiles
Multitasking

Mango will also include a mobile version of IE9 which will include:

HTML5
Hardware-accelerated graphics
Local Scout
Cards

You can see Mango in action already with Joe Belfiore showing it off in the video below:

How to Access Online Templates from Office 2011

Guest Author — Mon, 30 May 2011 13:00:00 +0000

When you open Microsoft Word, Excel, or PowerPoint in Microsoft Office 2011 you see a gallery of templates.

However the number of templates available to you isn’t limited to those stored on your Mac, you have access to thousands of templates online and they are just a click away.

Software/Hardware used: Office 2011 running on Mac OS 10.6.

The templates in this gallery are included with the standard install of Office.

To see thousands more free templates, all you have to do is click the little triangle next to the blue globe labeled ONLINE TEMPLATES.

Clicking the triangle populates the Gallery with the thousands of free templates from the Microsoft Office web site.

Choose a Category, keep in mind that categories have subcategories to make it easier to navigate.

Use the scroll bars to navigate the list of available templates and choose the one you would like to use to create a new document using the selected template.

If you have any comments or questions please use the comments form below.

Jim Gordon is a Mac MVP for Microsoft and author of Office 2011 for Mac All-in-One For Dummies. You can check out his book on Amazon.

Outlook Hotmail Connector Updated

Greg Baden — Tue, 17 May 2011 16:00:18 +0000

Using a Hotmail account within Outlook is a much needed service for many users of the web. There have been some problems in the past and now Microsoft is releasing a much needed update to the Outlook Hotmail Connector, which is now available. This mandatory update fixes a lot of bugs that have been a problem for many. The new version for the Hotmail Connector that you should have is version 14.0.5139.5001. A prompt to automatically update should have already appeared, but if it hasn’t you can download and install either the 32-bit or 64-bit version manually.

The update fixes many problems such as:

Many send and receive issues
Disabling the Outlook junk email filter for Hotmail accounts. Now the Hotmail server detects junk messages.
Issues with crashes when sending meetings using Hotmail Connector and adding a new Hotmail account to an older profile
Issues with Windows Live contacts anniversaries and birthdays being shifted
Issue that stopped synchronization of the Category property for Outlook contacts with Windows Live

The Hotmail Connector still doesn’t support HTTPS, but Microsoft is working to fix this issue. Hopefully there will be a patch soon enough.

SeniorNet Helps Seniors Learn Windows 7

Greg Baden — Tue, 17 May 2011 14:00:59 +0000

Technology has been widely adopted by many, but computers and the Internet have been adopted by a younger crowd. Baby Boomers and seniors are less likely to learn about computers and the Internet on their own and often have a hard time understanding how to use them. Over the past 25 years, SeniorNet has been helping older adults learn about computers and the Internet, much of which has been partnered with Microsoft.

SeniorNet is now celebrating their 25^th anniversary with a new program called, “Helping Seniors Get Back to Work”. This new program, expected to be announced on May 19^th, will include a new series of one hour workshops for older citizens around the country.

Workshops will include ways to help seniors connect with family, such as video chat on Windows Live Messenger, photo albums with Windows Live Photo Gallery and sharing more family memories on SkyDrive. Seniors are expected to learn how to use the PC, Windows 7 and digital photography in a way that makes sense to them, without all of the technicalities.

If you’re interested in attending the anniversary celebration it will be on Capitol Hill May 19^th, 2011 from 5pm-8pm

Updates to Web Apps Brings New Features to Excel & PowerPoint Online

Greg Baden — Mon, 16 May 2011 14:00:18 +0000

With online office programs, such as Google Apps, becoming more popular, it’s getting harder and harder for Microsoft to compete. On June 7, 2010 Microsoft entered the online office program playing field with their new set of apps, called Web Apps which included Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. A few months ago they made Web Apps available worldwide and now, nearly a year later we’re seeing some minor updates to two Office Web Apps.

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.

Microsoft Introduces Windows Expert Community

Greg Baden — Thu, 12 May 2011 14:00:49 +0000

You can find countless forums across the web with people discussing and helping others out on all sorts of topics. Now Microsoft is trying to get more involved within the forum community with its new Windows Expert Community. Windows Expert Community is designed to gather well knowledged computer enthusiasts for a variety of topics. Forums include Communicating, Sharing and Synchronizing with Windows Live, Windows Entertainment and Connected Home, Personalizing, Configuring and Using Windows, and General Topics. Each forum has multiple subforums, so it should be easy to find a category that will apply to your question or concern. These new forums are to help expand the talk of Windows and Windows Live talk.

The Green Button was a forum regarding Windows Media Center Topics and is now fully integrated with Windows Expert community. If you previously used The Green Button, you will now see that all posts and conversations have been converted over. This new move helps broaden the Microsoft discussion communities to a wider audience.

Have Fun While Learning Word with Ribbon Hero 2

Greg Baden — Wed, 04 May 2011 16:00:42 +0000

Every few years Microsoft comes out with a new Office suite, bringing new updates and different layouts. We’ve had 97, 2000, 2003, 2007, and now 2010. Sometimes it’s hard to find out how to use the new version of Word. I know I had a lot of difficulties switching from 2003 to 2007. In 2010 you can now play a game to help you learn the features of Word. Ribbon Hero 2, is a free game that works inside of Microsoft Word and helps to teach you how to exactly do tasks inside of Word. The game has points, time travel and the infamous Clippy.

You can download the game here for free. Whether you’re a Word pro or not, this is a game that your boss can’t stop you from playing. You can watch the short video of Doug Thomas showing how Ribbon Hero 2 works:

Internet Explorer 9 Enjoys Almost 10% Share in Windows 7

Greg Baden — Wed, 04 May 2011 14:00:45 +0000

With the advancements of browsers like IE9, Firefox and Chrome, it’s a wonder why anyone still uses IE6 and IE7. Sure, businesses have the excuse of “all of our software only works with IE6” or “it’s too expensive to switch”. When in the end, it’s really going to cost them more money in productivity and problems with compatibility. Nevertheless, Microsoft has been pushing IE9 lately and some new numbers are in. At the end of April, IE9 saw a 9.95% market share for users on Windows 7, which averaged out to be 7.5% for the entire month of April, which is over double the March average of 3.6%.

Doubling a market share in only a month is pretty amazing. Perhaps it’s because they partnered with eBay to offer discounts and bonuses for users who download IE9 and use it with eBay.

Luckily IE6 and IE7 saw a drop in 0.7% usage, making everyone happy in the long run. Many people have partnered to help get rid of these old depreciated browsers with sites like ie6countdown.com. IE6 users worldwide are sitting at 11.4% for the month of April, with 5.9% of that number coming from China. I think Microsoft needs to devote some advertising and time in China if they want to reduce these numbers anymore.