Archive for February, 2010

Everyone makes data entry errors. You need to correct errors quickly so you can move on with completing your work. In Excel, here are some ways to do that.

If the error just occurred:

1. [ESC] key on the keyboard. If you are still typing and have not hit [Enter] yet, press [ESC]. This cancels what you’ve begun to type in to a cell, but have not confirmed yet. (If you have already hit [Enter], see instructions below).
2. Click the Red X on the formula bar. This is the same thing as pressing [ESC]. The red X will not be available if you have already entered the data. This is only if you are still typing in the cell.
3. UNDO: If your error is recent, you can Undo. To undo:
Keyboard method – CTRL Z; (This one works in almost all programs)
Toolbar method – Undo Button (Left-facing blue arrow)
Menu method = EDIT > UNDO

If the error has already been entered, you have 2 options:

1. Click on the cell and simply re-type the correct entry. You do not have to press delete first, though that would work as well. The correction can be re-typed in the cell or on the formula bar.
2. Delete: Highlight the cells to delete data from, press [DELETE] on your keyboard.

Remember – UNDO is your best friend!

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Outlook Drag-and-Drop

One of the things I love about Outlook is its drag-and-drop features. For example, creating email subfolders for categorizing emails by subject, I can drag emails I want to save in to the appropriate folder.

But I can also drag emails to my calendar. Sometimes you receive an email for something that must go on your calendar. All you have to do is drag the email from your Inbox to the Calendar icon in the Navigation Pane (left side of screen). An appointment window opens where you fill in the date and time – Save & Close. If you check your calendar you’ll see the appointment with all the details in the email included!

You can go a step further and color code your appointments. Here is an example. Let’s say I color-code all of my travel related calendar items red. I receive a flight confirmation email from my airlines, so I drag and drop the email on my calendar icon. When the appointment window opens, I set the date/time of the flight and color code it red by clicking on the Categorize drop-down button on the Outlook 2007 ribbon (click on the Categories drop-down box in Outlook 2003). Save and close.  An example is pictured below.
OutlookCalendarColorCode

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