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Published 
2 min read

Generate invoice numbers in Excel 

<p>If you need a way to create invoices in Excel, you can use one of the many invoice templates on Office.com. While these templates are a great starting point, they don't automatically generate unique invoice numbers—you need a macro for that. In this video, Excel MVP Bill Jelen shows you how to create a couple of macros to generate invoice numbers. The first macro automatically increments the number and then clears cells on the worksheet so you can start fresh on the next invoice. The second macro lets you save a copy of the invoice with a unique file name.</p>
Published 
3 min read

An IT Professional’s Technology Wish List 

When most people think about making a holiday wish list they think of things like toys, home gadgets, and jewelry. However, if you happen to be an IT professional you may have different items on your list, ones that include upgrading PCs and software and virtualization technologies. We listened to some IT professionals and here
Published 
2 min read

Organize your recipes with a OneNote cookbook 

<p>Do you like to test out new recipes? When you find a good one, I bet you hang on to it. When one falls flat, you scratch it from your collection fast. And then there's that outrageous dessert you brought to the holiday party-everyone wants a copy of that recipe! How do you keep track? A really cool OneNote recipe book can help you out. Take a peek by clicking here to download it. Looks good, doesn't it? It's got a chicken marsala dish your Mom would love and others that sound yummy. But if you've got a culinary habit, you no doubt think it's missing some. No worries-this recipe book lets you add recipes, remove the busts, and share favorites with family and friends. </p>
Published 
1 min read

Tracking small projects in Excel 

<p>It goes without saying that Microsoft Project is THE program to use if you need to manage large projects. But what if you manage smaller projects? Can you do that in Excel? Sure, but life will be easier if you start with a template that is specifically designed to facilitate project management. With that in mind, PowerPoint expert Glenna Shaw created a free project plan template for tracking projects in Excel. You can use this template to estimate time and costs, create a project schedule, manage risks and resources, document lessons learned, and create charts for presentations and reports. Check it out!</p>
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2 min read

The Excel part of mail merge 

<p>Hey, the holidays are fast approaching, which means you've got to get your cards signed, sealed, and delivered! This post goes out to those of you who keep your address list in Excel and need to figure out how to use it to create mailing labels in Word.  Creating labels can be intimidating, mainly because there are a number of steps and you're typically working across different programs—in this case, Excel and Word. Read on to learn best practices for preparing your address list in Excel.</p>
Published 
1 min read

The Right Information At The Right Time 

Knowledge workers today are challenged, to say the least. There's too much information, the information is in many places, and it's hurling at us with unbelievable speeds. We lose a lot of time searching information; in fact, according to the IDC "Hidden Costs of Information Work in the Enterprise" study, an average knowledge worker loses…
Published 
4 min read

Free update for OneNote 2010 improves SkyDrive and sync features 

<p>In response to customer feedback that many of you have reported on the OneNote forums on Microsoft Answers in the past months, the OneNote development team has released a free update for the desktop client version of Microsoft OneNote 2010. When applied, this update improves the user experience for SkyDrive integration features and the sync status interface for shared notebooks on SkyDrive and on SharePoint. Read the full blog post to learn more about this update and where to download it!</p>
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2 min read

Two tips for faster worksheet navigation 

<p>If your workbook contains a ton of worksheets, it can be a hassle to navigate to just the right sheet. For one thing, you often can't see all the sheet names at the bottom of the workbook. Sure, you can move around by using the four navigation buttons to the left of the worksheet tabs, or by pressing Ctrl + Page Up or Ctrl + Page Down, but there are faster ways to jump from sheet to sheet. </p>
Published 
4 min read

Celebrate a Decade of Windows XP by Moving to Windows 7 

Shortly after the world entered the 21st century, we launched Windows XP. Now in just two weeks we’ll celebrate its 10-year anniversary. A decade ago the majority of the PCs shipped were desktops and today they’re laptops. In fact, IDC has interesting stats that puts this into perspective. In 2001, about 80% of shipments worldwide
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1 min read

Use cross-references to link to other parts of a document 

<p>You've heard that cross-references can enhance the professional quality of a research paper. What are cross-references and how do they work? A cross-reference is a pointer or link to an item that is in another location in a document - for example, "See Figure 1" to link to a salient graphic. You can create cross-references to headings, footnotes, bookmarks, captions, and numbered paragraphs.  </p>
Published 
3 min read

Speed up data-entry tasks by using End Mode 

<p>The other day, I was filling out a huge Excel table, and I found myself needing to enter the exact same information in multiple cells. To save time, I used something called End mode in combination with the arrow keys on my keyboard to quickly select all the cells I needed to change. Many of my own coworkers have never heard of End mode, so I thought you might not know about it either. It's a handy status bar option, and in my opinion it's often easier to use than fill down when you need to update a lot of cells at once. </p>
Published 
3 min read

Line or scatter chart? 

<p>Ah, the great questions of life: Paper or plastic? Line chart or scatter chart? Choosing the wrong chart type for your data can easily happen when it comes to line and scatter charts. They look very similar, especially when a scatter chart is displayed with connecting lines, but there is a big difference in the way each of these chart types plots data along the horizontal and vertical axes. Let Excel writer Frederique be your guide as to which type of chart to use and when.</p>