This week’s hint and tip is on the date picker content control option in Word. In this hint and tip we are going over another control option you can insert into Word. The option we are covering in today’s hint and tip allows you to select from a date picker calendar in your Word document. We do cover something similar in our Intermediate Word training course but not this exact option. We are going to go through it now below.

Developer Tab

The option we are looking at in this hint and tip is found on the Developer Tab. Sometimes you need to tick to show this tab the top of your screen. To make this tab visible, right hand click on the grey space on the ribbon on the Home Tab. From here, choose Customise the Ribbon. Down the list, make sure the box next to Developer in the list of Tabs is ticked. This will now make the tab visible at the top of your screen.

Once you can see the Tab, the ribbon will appear with the Control options in the middle of it. This is where you will find the date picker options that we are going to insert into a table.

Date Picker Content Control option

The option we are looking at is for picking and inserting a date into the table. Click into an empty cell in your table and then click on the Date Picker Content Control option in the Controls section of the ribbon. This will insert the option into the cell.

Once you have inserted the option into the cell, you can now edit the properties. Editing the properties allows you to be able to add in a title/tag.  It also allows you to choose the way in which you want the date to be displayed.

Once you have chosen these options and clicked OK, the cell will look like the screenshot below. You can now see that there is a heading title above the date picker saying to ‘select a date’. When you then click on the drop down arrow, a calendar appears that allows you to choose a date to be inserted.

The video below demonstrates how to insert this feature in a Word document. This is just another example of a control option that you can insert in Word. Take a look below at the video to find out more and then try them out on your own computer!

We hope you have enjoyed this hint and tip on the date picker content control option in Word. Why not take a look at our previous video hint and tip on how to insert a drop down box in a table in Word?

The post Date Picker Content Control Option in Word – how do I insert it in my documents? appeared first on JPL IT Training Ltd.

This week’s hint and tip is on Excel shortcuts part 3. Part 3 of these shortcuts covers the function buttons F3 and F5. It also covers the lesser known shortcut keys for going down a line in a cell, scrolling horizontally and copying the flash fill pattern into the rest of the cells. We cover some shortcuts in our Basic Excel training course, but these aren’t all covered in it so we decided to do a hint and tip on them. We are going to go through them now below.

F3 Function Key

The F3 function key brings up the Paste Name box (‘Name’ being named cells). This will bring up a box with all the named cells you have in the spreadsheet you are in. Having this box come up then allows you to create a link between cells in your spreadsheet. To use it, firstly click into a cell in your worksheet and type in the = sign. Then press the F3 key and this should bring up the Paste Name box. You can then select the named cell you want to insert into your cell and click OK to insert it in. You can then just leave it as that to create a link or continue if you are using the named cell in a calculation.

F5 Function Key

The F5 function key brings up the Go To dialog box. This box allows you to go to a named cell in your spreadsheet. To use it, firstly go into your spreadsheet and select a cell. Then press the F5 key and the Go To dialog box will appear. Now select the named cell from the list you want to go to and click OK. This will then move in the spreadsheet to highlight the cell selected.

Shortcut Keys for going down a line in a cell, scrolling horizontally and copying flash fill

There are lots of shortcut key combinations in Excel and we are going to go through 3 more now. The shortcut keys that we are going to look at are for going down a line in a cell, scrolling horizontally and copying flash fill.

The shortcut key combination for going down a line in a cell is the Alt key and the Enter key on your keyboard. Pressing this keyboard combination moves your cursor down a line in a cell, rather than just pressing Enter which goes to the next cell. This can be useful when you want to write more in a cell but on the next line down in it.

Next the shortcut key combination for scrolling horizontally is the Ctrl key, the Shift key and scrolling up or down on your mouse. Another shortcut for this is also to press down on the scroll wheel on your mouse and moving the mouse itself.

Finally the shortcut key combination for copying flash fill is the Ctrl key and the letter E key. Once you fill in the first line of your flash fill pattern entry, click on the next cell down under each column and press Ctrl+E, this will then fill in the rest of the column with the flash fill pattern.

All of these shortcut key combinations can be useful in saving you time in regular use of Excel.

Summary of the Shortcuts above…

• F3: brings up the Paste Name dialog box
• F5: brings up the Go To dialog box
• Alt+Enter Key: goes down a line in a cell
• Ctrl+Shift+Scroll up or down on mouse: allows you to scroll horizontally
• Ctrl+E: fills in the rest of the flash fill entries for you once you have started it off

The video below shows you how you can use these shortcuts in your spreadsheets to save you time. Some of these you might know already but some you might not!

Take a look below at the video to find out more and then try them out on your own computer!

We hope you have enjoyed this hint and tip on Excel shortcuts part 3. Why not take a look at our previous video hint and tip on part 1 of our Word navigation shortcuts?

The post Excel Shortcuts Part 3 – F3, F5 and some other useful but lesser known shortcut keys appeared first on JPL IT Training Ltd.

This week’s hint and tip is on creating a Word style. Styles are very useful hen creating documents and there are a number of defaults already available to be used. You can though create your own which allows you to have your own Word style that you can use which is unique to you. Styles are covered in our Advanced Word training course but we also decided to do a hint and tip on it. We are going to go through it now below.

Styles in Word

The Style gallery on the Home Tab allows you to choose for example the Normal Style, No Spacing Style and one of the several Heading Styles useful in Table of Contents and Multi Level lists.

However it may be useful or even company policy to create your own Style and here’s how.

Creating your own style in Word

First click the DBL (dialogue Box Launcher) on the Styles gallery.

Click the first icon on the bottom (A with a +).

Type in a New Style Name and you can then select a whole variety of parameters including Font Size, Colour and the Format button (bottom left).

Then say choose Paragraph to choose line spacing.

The last selection you need to do is to decide whether this style will appear only for this document or have all new documents based on it (radio buttons at the bottom).

The Style then appears in the gallery to be used like any other (also in the Style Pane).

To remove the Style from the gallery simply right click Remove and from the Styles pane right click Delete.

We hope you liked this hint and tip on creating a Word style, why not take a look at our previous one on the different ways of using the advanced filter option in Excel?

For more blogs on Word please visit our website here.

The post Creating a Word Style – how to create your own Style in Word appeared first on JPL IT Training Ltd.

This week we are bringing an extra hint and tip about custom printing in Word. This isn’t covered in our Word course, so we decided to do a hint and tip on it. We are going to go through it now below.

As of the 21st of September 2021, there is a known ‘software bug’ when it comes to Word custom printing.

Currently I’m not able to custom print from Word certain pages in a multi page document so this blog and associated video is to share 3 workarounds.

Option 1 – Setting an option in Word

In Word, Options, Display set ‘Update fields before printing’

This then allows you to print ranges but you must answer the Table of contents dialogue box which appears and say choose ‘update entire table’.

Option 2 – Save as a PDF

You can of course save as a PDF and then print your selected pages within Adobe PDF printing as you always have outside Word.

Option 3 – Using Word on the Web

I sometimes use ‘Word online’ saving my documents to my One Drive folder.

You can print off using Word online a custom range of pages without an issue.

So, until it’s fixed at least you have 3 workarounds!

The video below shows you the printing issue that we have currently come across. It also goes through 3 workarounds that you can use to overcome the issue. We hope that you find the video useful and enjoy learning about it!

Take a look below at the video to find out more!

We hope you have enjoyed this hint and tip on custom printing in Word. Why not take a look at our previous one on hints and tips posts in PowerPoint on our website?

For more information on Word and hints and tips please visit our web site here.

The post Custom Printing in Word – ways to work around printing issues in Word appeared first on JPL IT Training Ltd.

​This week’s hint and tip is about the SUMIF and COUNTIF functions in Excel and how you can use them in your worksheets. These are covered on our Intermediate Excel training course but we also decided to do a hint and tip on it. We are going to go through it now below.

SUMIF and COUNTIF Functions in Excel

This blog goes alongside the video we’ve made on our YouTube channel that you can watch below in the post.

Whereas two really common functions in Excel are =SUM and =COUNT, these are simple and simply take a range as the argument inside the brackets without any criteria applied to the cells in that range. SUMIF and COUNTIF go a step further.

We have 3 examples (2 of SUMIF and 1 of COUNTIF) to illustrate this. The worksheet is the same for all 3 and is attached also to this blog below for you to see.

In this worksheet we have a list of customer courses run on separate dates with their corresponding month number besides it and the number of attendees in column D.

Example 1 – SUMIF (using 2 arguments)

=SUMIF(D2:D21,”>5″)

This adds up the number of attendees where there are more than 5 people on a course in the range D2:D21.

Example 2 – SUMIF (using 3 arguments)

=SUMIF(C2:C21,”<=3″,D2:D21)

This adds up the numbers in the 3rd argument i.e. D2:D21 but bases that addition on the range of cells in column C if the month is less than or equal to 3.

Note there has to be the same range of rows in arguments 1 and 3 for this to work.

Example 3 – COUNTIF

=COUNTIF(D2:D21,”<>”)

This counts the number of cells which are non blank and therefore exclude 2 cells in the range D2:D21 which have had no attendees.

These 3 functions and more are taught on our virtual and onsite intermediate Excel course. For more information on our virtual course, please visit here and for our onsite course here.

For more information on any of our courses please visit our website or contact John Legge on johnlegge@jplcomputer.co.uk.

The video below shows you how to actually use these functions in a spreadsheet. We hope that you find the video useful and enjoy learning about it!

Take a look below at the video to find out more and then try it out on your own computer!

Click here to download the example spreadsheet shown in the video to try it out yourself!

We hope you have enjoyed this hint and tip on SUMIF and COUNTIF functions in Excel. Why not take a look at our previous one on protecting documents in Word​?

Please visit our YouTube Channel directed from our website or via this link for more videos.

The post SUMIF and COUNTIF Functions in Excel – what do they do? appeared first on JPL IT Training Ltd.

This week’s hint and tip is on financial cell formatting in Excel. This looks at this specific type of cell formatting and how it can be used in spreadsheets. This is covered in our Basic Excel course but we decided to do a hint and tip on it as well. We are going to go through it now below.

Cell Formatting in Excel

All cells in Excel start off with a ‘General’ cell formatting. Therefore this means that there is not a specific cell formatting applied to them. Cell formatting can be used in your spreadsheets for data that have specific formatting needs. For example, date cells will need to look different compared to standard plain numbers.

In this hint and tip we are looking specifically at the financial cell formatting options of Currency and Accounting. To apply these options, firstly select the cell and then apply the formatting to it.

Currency Cell Formatting

This type of cell formatting is to be used for any figures in your spreadsheet that are financial. Applying this cell formatting to a number will add a currency symbol and 2 decimal places to the end of it. If your number already has decimal places it will either add 0’s at the end or round it up/down to 2 decimal places. For example, if the cell has the number 2.5 in it, then the currency formatting will make it £2.50. By default the symbol inserted will depend on what language is set as default for your computer/laptop. So if you want to change this, then all you have to do is select the symbol you require from the list.

Accounting Cell Formatting

This type of cell formatting is very similar to the currency one as it is for figures that are financial. Applying this cell formatting to a number will look the same as currency with a slight difference. The difference is that the decimal place and the currency symbol are both aligned up in the cell.

The video below shows you how to use both of these cell formatting types in Excel. It goes through each financial cell formatting style and how the number will look when each is applied.

Take a look below at the video to find out more and then try it out on your own computer!

We hope you have enjoyed this hint and tip on financial cell formatting in Excel. Why not take a look at our previous one on two new functions, XLOOKUP and Filter in Excel?

The post Financial Cell Formatting in Excel – using it to format your data specifically appeared first on JPL IT Training Ltd.

This week’s hint and tip is about getting PDF data into Excel using the ‘Get Data’ feature. This option isn’t on any of our courses so we decided to do a hint and tip on it. We are going to go through it now below.

What it is and where to find it

The ‘Get Data’ feature in Excel is a very powerful tool that you can use to easily move data in and out of Excel. There are lots of different options that you can use but we are looking specifically at getting data from a PDF file. To find this option you need to go to the Data Tab in Excel.

How to get data from a PDF document

Firstly to use this option, go to the Data Tab and click on the ‘Get Data’ option. From here go to the ‘From File’ option and click on the ‘From PDF’ option. This will allow you to navigate through your filing system to where the PDF file is stored. Once you have it, select it and click on Import. Next a window will appear where you can click on the name for the table on the left and see a preview of the table. There might be more than one option if there are multiple tables so just click through until the preview is of the correct one. Finally click on ‘Load’ and it will load the data into the Excel spreadsheet for you.

Refreshing the link if the table is updated

If you make any changes to the original Word document that the PDF was created from, you can refresh the table in Excel to update to match it. Make the change to the Word document and save it. Next save the Word document as a pdf replacing the existing one. After you have done this, go back into Excel and on the Table Design Tab that appears when you are in the table, click on the Refresh button. This will then update your table.

The video below shows you where to find the PDF data into Excel option and how to use it yourself. This feature in Excel is very useful as it can help save you lots of time.

Take a look below at the video to find out more and then try it out on your own computer!

We hope you have enjoyed this hint and tip on getting PDF data into Excel. Why not take a look at our previous one on useful features in Publisher?

The post PDF Data into Excel – using the ‘Get Data’ feature in Excel to save you time! appeared first on JPL IT Training Ltd.

This week’s hint and tip is about how to insert and define a new bullet point within Excel. This is on our Intermediate Word training course and it covers where the options are found and how to use them. We are going to go through it now below. Previously we created two hint and tip posts going into detail on how to insert bullet points and how to change them. However this week we are bringing them together into a video hint and tip for those who prefer to learn via video!

Where is the bullet point option found?

The bullet point button is found on the Home Tab in the paragraph gallery section on the ribbon. There are 2 parts to the button, the main part of the button or a drop down arrow. The drop down arrow allows you to select the style of bullet point that you want to insert first. Whereas the main part of the button inserts the last style of bullet point that was selected.

Inserting a bullet point

This can be done before or after you have typed text into your document. In the video below we demonstrate how to insert them in before text. However it is simple to insert them in after. To do this, just highlight the text and click on the bullet point button. The method you use is just down to which you find easiest and prefer.

Removing bullet points

There are a few ways to do this. In the video below we go through the different ways in which you can remove bullet points. Same as before, the method you choose is down to personal preference.

Defining a new bullet

Most of the time a standard bullet point from the list might be enough, but sometimes you might want something different. This is where ‘defining a new bullet’ comes in. This option allows you to pick or define a new design for your bullet point. You are able to pick from a number of options, these being: Symbol, Picture and Font. Each of these allow you to choose a different bullet point to make your list stand out from the rest of your text.

The video below shows you how to insert, remove and define a new bullet point. All of these are useful to know when wanting to use bullet points effectively in your documents.

Take a look below at the video to find out more and then try it out on your own computer!

We hope you have enjoyed this hint and tip on inserting and defining bullet points. Why not take a look at our previous one on dynamic arrays in Excel?

The post Inserting and Defining Bullet Points in Word – a video on how to do so appeared first on JPL IT Training Ltd.

​This week’s hint and tip is about reveal formatting in Word and how you can use it in your documents. This feature isn’t covered in our courses, so we wanted to create a hint and tip to let you know more about it. We are going to go through it now below.

Where the Reveal Formatting command is found in Word

The reveal formatting command is found under the Styles gallery on the Home Tab. By clicking on the little arrow in the bottom right hand corner of the styles gallery you should get a Styles window appear. At the bottom of this window there is a button called Style Inspector, click on this. This will bring up another window where you will find a button at the bottom called Reveal Formatting, click on this. This will have now brought up the side pane for reveal formatting.

You will hopefully see that this took quite a few steps to bring up! This is an example of one of the many commands in Word which do not appear on any ribbon. Where was probably not enough room and so we sometimes need to add one to our QAT (Quick Access Toolbar). This is a good idea for this reveal formatting command as it is very useful and will save time of a several steps to find it.

How to use Reveal Formatting in your document

This reveal formatting command basically shows all the formatting attributes of a selected word in its own pane.

You can then see the formatting properties of the word selected or indeed by ticking the “compare” box the differences to another word. This is certainly better than doing it purely by eye!

The video below shows you how to add the reveal formatting command to your QAT to make locating it easier. It also goes through the different options you can use this command for in your Word documents. We hope you find use for this really unsung hero of Word!

Take a look below at the video to find out more and then try it out on your own computer!

We hope you have enjoyed this hint and tip on reveal formatting in Word. Why not take a look at our previous one on quick parts and how to use them in Word?

The post Reveal Formatting in Word – how this command can help you in your documents appeared first on JPL IT Training Ltd.

In PowerPoint it is possible to fairly quickly make a presentation using just text and bullet points but it’s not very interesting either to create or watch! There are many features which can make such a presentation much more interesting.

Ideas we have used in our courses and in real life include:

• • Adding music
  • Adding action button to navigate to a web site or other image, map etc
  • Inserting a YouTube funny video clip
  • Inserting a chart to explain some data

However, in this blog we are going to show a video using Custom Animation. Custom animation is what happens on a slide between objects. A slide which is not animated at all has all its images, text, bullets already showing on the slide when it’s presented. A slide which is animated allows the presenter to control how those objects appear on the screen.

So, in the example in the video we have 10 objects of interest:

• • 5 ovals
  • 5 text boxes

The ovals shown when a click is made and even then, it is a certain type of animation – spin. The text box appears straight after the spinning oval without the need for a click (it’s called Start After Previous). This could have a time delay but for this example it does not. You will see the finished slide when you see the video and how it was built.

It’s fun and the all important pane is called Animation Pane which shows the running order of each animated object.

This topic and others are covered in our 2 PowerPoint courses which you can see in the agendas here: Basic and Intermediate.

Custom Animation Video

The video below shows you how to add custom animation to objects in your presentation. Take a look below to find out more and then try it out on your own computer!

We hope you have enjoyed this hint and tip on PowerPoint custom animation, why not take a look at our previous one on creating links in Excel?

The post PowerPoint Custom Animation – how to apply it in your presentations appeared first on JPL IT Training Ltd.