This week’s hint and tip is on the CONCATENATE function in Excel. It looks at this function and how it can be used in spreadsheets. This is covered in our Advanced Excel training course so we decided to do a hint and tip on it. We are going to go through it now below.

What is the CONCATENATE Function?

The CONCATENATE function is one of the text functions that are available for use in Excel. This text function allows you to join together a number of text strings to make one text string in a cell. This means that you can join together information from a number of cells to make one string of information in one cell.

Using the CONCATENATE Function

The CONCATENATE function is useful for bringing together information from a number of cells in Excel. When creating a string of text, if you want a space you need to type ” ” in the formula. So a formula bringing together 2 cells with a space in between them would look like this =CONCATENATE(a1,” “,a2). This function is very useful when you have data that you want to merge together. For example, if you have two columns with first and last names in them but want a column with the full name in it you can use this function to do that.

The video below shows you how to use CONCATENATE in Excel. It goes through what this function does in the spreadsheet and how to use it.

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 the CONCATENATE function in Excel. Why not take a look at our previous one on financial cell formatting types in Excel?

The post CONCATENATE Function in Excel – using a text function in your spreadsheet appeared first on JPL IT Training Ltd.

This week’s hint and tip is on Word useful features part 2. In this second part we are covering the increase/decrease indent buttons and the hyphenation button. These are covered in our Intermediate Word training course but not fully, so we decided to do a hint and tip on them. We are going to go through them now below.

Increase/decrease indent buttons

These buttons are found on the Home Tab in the Paragraph gallery. Both of these buttons can also be found on the Layout Tab in a little bit more detail. They allow you to change how far your text is indented as a paragraph from the edge of the page. The options on the Layout Tab also allow you to indent from the right as well as the left. You can also use the buttons to increase the indentation in a bullet point or numbered list.

Hyphenation button

This button is found on the Layout Tab. Automatically this option is normally set to none, however you can change this is you wish. To change the settings for your document, click on this button and select from the list. This will then apply the change to your document.

The video below shows you how to use both of these little useful features in your Word documents. These features might appear small but there will come times where they might just be what you need!

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 part 2 of useful features in Word. Why not take a look at our previous video hint and tip on part 1 of useful features in Word?

The post Word Useful Features Part 2 – how about these, heard of any of them? appeared first on JPL IT Training Ltd.

This month’s news blog focusses on some of the work we’ve been doing since lockdown in March.

For 3 months we’ve not been back on client’s site but kept in regular contact through email, phone and by sending out hints and tips.

We’ve updated our website with lots of hints and tips blogs and links to YouTube videos. If you haven’t yet subscribed to our YouTube channel please click on this link to do so. We upload new videos 2-3 times a month but there is already a whole list you can look at.

The hints and tips blogs are written to complement our courses or even give you a preview of newer features just released in Office. You can find all of these by clicking here. All of these hints and tips are also shared on our Linkedin pages.

New Courses

We have written 3 new courses ideal for being delivered by Webex in a remote training layout:

• Excel hints and Tips
• Word Hints and Tips
• Developing a PowerPoint presentation in 2 hours

These are all short sessions which can work better for some as you do not need to allow a whole day off for it. If you would like to know more about these courses this link gives more details.

Some of the customers we’ve run remote training and consultancy for over the last 3 months include:

• • Herefordshire and Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce
  • Godiva
  • Direct Air
  • Build It International
  • 3mj Consulting
  • techUK
  • Shrewsbury Food Hub
  • Connop and Sons
  • Beko Technologies

As things begin to change, we will be back to carrying out training and consultancy on clients sites again. However the remote training and consultancy will still be on offer for any who require this method of learning.

For more details please send an email to johnlegge@jplcomputer.co.uk or phone 07903 840105.

The post July 2020 news update on what is happening at JPL appeared first on JPL IT Training Ltd.

Remote training comments from some attendees on Excel and PowerPoint 365 Webex training sessions carried out remotely:

“Thank you. It was a very useful exercise which gave me plenty of time to take in what we had just done and to think about the next steps. I really learnt from the Q and A session and was very glad that you never picked me to go first to do an exercise! I always struggle with Excel but this training boosted my confidence through your clear guidance and importantly, a touch of humour.”

“Thank you for the WebEx training over the two days. As always with you, I learned so much. After the PowerPoint, I was so proud of what we achieved, that I made my family watch my presentation – with the transitions and animation. So thank you! With Excel, I always feel I need to know more and your training leaves me feeling so much more confident. The online sessions were brilliant! Thank you! Please stay safe and hoping to see you again soon!”

“The training on Excel was explained clearly and easy to follow with many time-saving tips which will really help with the creation and presentation of data. The PowerPoint training was excellent and will save so much time in the future and will enable more consistent and professional looking presentations. The tips offered can also be developed so we can further expand our skills.”

– Alison, Christine and Marianne

We have now carried out several Webex training sessions over the last few weeks. The comments above are from one particular session that we had. If you are interested in finding out more, then please take a look at our remote training page. We’d be happy to chat about your training needs and see how we can help.

The post Remote Training Comments – Build It International attendee comments appeared first on JPL IT Training Ltd.

Publisher is a package that can sometimes be forgotten about or overlooked, with Word being most people’s first point of call for creating documents. However, sometimes Publisher comes up on top in comparison to Word and can often be easier to use for certain documents!

Here we are going to take you through some of the Publisher page sizes, publication types and templates that you can utilise to save you time and make your life a lot easier!

Page Sizes

When you first open up Publisher, the screen looks like the screen shot below. This screen will list any recent files that you have opened down the left hand side and then give you a number of options on the rest of the screen.

The most common options that are used are the ‘blank A4 (portrait)’ or the ‘blank A4 (landscape)’ but there is also the option to choose from other blank page sizes.

Under this option you can select the blank page size that you require from the selection given.

Templates

In this area you can also scroll down to have a look at the Publication Type section. Under here there are a variety of ‘blank templates’ that you can utilise to make creating your document easier (see below).

These blank document templates and sizes are really useful for saving you time when creating your documents from scratch. However, in Publisher there are also a whole bank of templates that you can use if you need a bit of inspiration for your documents!

These templates can then be personalised and edited to meet your requirements and can save a lot of time if they look similar to what you were aiming to create yourself. To get to this part of Publisher, you firstly click on to the ‘Built-In’ heading on the opening screen. This will bring up a variety of template ‘groups’ that you can choose from. As you scroll through you will be able to see the vast variety you can choose from.

So even though Word is a very powerful Microsoft Office package, Publisher can sometimes stand head and shoulders above in the more creative side.

So next time you are thinking of creating a newsletter or business card, why not give Publisher a go?

You might also like to read our previous post on Excel Symbol Meanings.

The post Publisher page sizes – using page sizes & publication types for your work appeared first on JPL IT Training Ltd.

Excel is a very useful Microsoft Office package in more ways than one! It is one of the most used packages in lots of businesses but also for people at home in personal use too. With it being so versatile, it is important to learn more about it to have a greater understanding for applying it in work and a home.

Nowadays a lot of people want to learn Excel online, but you can also still learn it in a classroom based environment. This is the main way in which we carry out all of our courses. However, we do also offer a self teach method of learning which combines together our way of teaching with a ‘more online’ medium.

Some Excel Tips:

1. Quickest way to create a chart sheet is to select the range of cells you want to make a chart from and press F11
2. To select a whole worksheet worth of data, you select cell A1 and then Control+Shift+End
3. Sparklines are really simple ‘charts in a cell’. Select a cell and then insert Sparklines and select your range
4. Use Pivot Table slicer for easy filtering on your PT data

Our selected tip in more detail is – Custom List Sorting in Excel

Most people are used to sorting in Excel alphabetically or numerically but did you know you can sort by your own Custom List Sort Sequence too?

Create a Custom Sort List of data either in the Excel Options screen or when you go into the Data Sort command and change the order to Custom List. Typing a comma separates your list of data and then you can add it to the existing lists. An example would be counties in the UK sorted geographically from north to south.

We hope you liked this hint and tip on some features in Excel, why not take a look at our previous one on flash fill in Excel?

For more info about what we do and other tips see our web site here

The post Learn Excel Online – Tips for Excel to make your use of this package easier! appeared first on JPL IT Training Ltd.

This week’s blog focusses on colour in Excel. We’ve done this before so it contains a new feature in Excel 365 as well as recapping on a traditional one that we have covered already in a previous hint and tip.

Maps In Excel

This new Add in is found on the Add in gallery of the Insert Ribbon. Maps in Excel allows you to display your data in a more visual way than just using text and displaying the figures next to it. This more visual approach can often be more appropriate and effective depending on what you are displaying the data for and who to. In the example above, you can see how the data is laid our clearly in the top left corner of the Excel worksheet but the Map that takes up most of the worksheet gives a bit more information and detail in displaying the locations visually. This could be beneficial if a comparison was needed to be made in how far each location was from each other.

Essentially, it gives you your data in a more visually descriptive layout compared to just having a table.

Conditional Formatting

Using this flexible feature on the Home ribbon brings data to life. All the conditions are managed so that the split of data relating to colours can be easily changed.

In the example above, the conditional formatting is able to add more colour to the data in the spreadsheet. This colour can very quickly give an overview of the data without having to look too closely at the individual figures. Using both icons and colour formatting is useful for making large amounts of data easier to read, show trends or quickly locate any issues/problems.

Like this post on Excel exposure? For more details on it and our courses please visit our website here or phone 07903 840105. You can also see our previous post here on pivot tables in Excel.

The post Excel exposure: Colour in Excel – did you know it existed? Do you use it? appeared first on JPL IT Training Ltd.

Outlook may not be as functionally large a module as Excel or Word but it still packs a punch in terms of features to save time. It often a ‘go to’ software package for businesses to use as their mailing system for within the business and to customers. As it is part of the Microsoft Office package it has lots of features in it that copy across from Excel and Word, so using it is sometimes easier as you have already used a lot of the features before!

As well as features copying over from other packages within the Microsoft Office suite, there is also a lot of help that you can get through the Microsoft Office website with troubleshooting. There are times that things can go wrong with Outlook and so having this help option is a real bonus as you have an expert on the other end who can give you a helping hand in case something goes wrong!

7 Features to use in Outlook

We have recently run courses at a clients premises in Bromsgrove, where all those who attended the course benefited from these 7 features which they were unaware of.

Each of these topics above are useful and beneficial in the day to day use of Outlook but a lot of people do not realise that they are available for use in Outlook! A lot of these features are present in other packages within the Microsoft Office suite, but being able to bring them in to Outlook is an added bonus and can really make your emails more beneficial to what you might want to get across to someone.

For more information on any these Outlook features above please email us on johnlegge@jplcomputer.co.uk or give us a call on 07903 840105 and we would be happy to chat to you about them. All the topics above are covered in our Outlook training course.

Why not take a look at our previous post on a new course coming and a macro hint and tip?

The post Outlook Features you can easily use to save time in your work! appeared first on JPL IT Training Ltd.