Word: Centering on a title page

Nothing is easy in Microsoft Word!  Even something as simple as centering text vertically on a page is buried away in a mess of menus.

I finally figured out how to vertically center content on a page in Microsoft Word.  Here are the instructions:

1. On the Layout ribbon, under “Page Setup,” click on the “Dialog Box Launcher.”
2. The “Page Setup” dialog box appears.  Click on the “Layout” tab, as shown below.  In the “Page” section of the dialog box, click “Center.”

Remove Background Graphics on PPT slide

I like to insert pictures in my presentations.   However, if you inserting pictures into a template that is already colorful, the pictures may be obscured by the template.

Fortunately, Microsoft developed a very simple solution to this issue.  In PowerPoint, right click on the slide in question and select Format Background from the menu.  In Format Background, select the option to Hide Background Graphics.  All of the background graphics will disappear for that slide only.

Word: No More Squiggly Lines

Have you ever wanted to get rid of those pesky squiggly lines in Word?  True, they can be useful sometimes in catching grammatical errors, but other times they can be downright annoying.

In other to turn the squiggly lines off in Word 2007, click on the Office button, which is the globe on the top left hand side of the screen with the Office logo on it.  Then click on Word Options.  On the left hand side, you will see a tab for Proofing.  Under Proofing, uncheck, Mark grammar errors as you type.

Using “Is Null” to find empty records

Have you ever needed to find blank records in Access to replace with data?  You can’t simply leave the  field blank and expect Access to know what you are talking about.  For Access to find all values that are blank, under Find What:, type “Is Null.” This will indicate to Access that you are looking for all rows within a column that do not have any data.

Save as PDF

I notice online there are several websites that will convert a Word document into a PDF. However, this is something you can easily do using only Word 2010 or later. When you go File > Save As, under Save as type, choose PDF.

You can even restrict the amount of pages you wish to convert into a PDF. On the Save As dialog window, click on Options. This allows you to specify a page range. If you only need the page you currently are viewing, click Current page and you are all set.

The Convert to PDF option is available in all Office 2010 applications, as far as I know.

Microsoft PowerPoint 2010: Determining the RGB values of a color used in a presentation

Oftentimes, you will see a color that you like in a PowerPoint document, and you will want to use that color in a Visio document or a Word document.  The instructions below show you how to do this.

Microsoft Word 2010: Removing that pesky page break

My girlfriend had a page break in her Microsoft Word document that she just could not remove.  I tried everything I could.  I even tried taking the information and pasting it into another document.  Nothing would get rid of the page break.  After some poking online, I was able to find a relatively simple solution for her.

Microsoft Excel 2010 – Subtotal Function

Sometimes, when you have a spreadsheet, you are just looking for a simple summation, or a count. Sure, you can use a Pivot Table. Another way you can do it is by using the Subtotal function

Microsoft Excel 2010 – Text functions to Automate Data Cleansing

As a data analyst, I deal with a lot of data.  Most of my time dealing with data is spent doing data cleansing.  Data cleansing involves taking the text you are given and converting it into a more usable form.  There are several Excel functions that will automate the data cleansing process.  Knowing these functions can save you hundreds of hours of time in your data cleansing.

Microsoft Excel 2010 – Conditional Formatting

If you follow the stock market like I do, you may notice that Google Finance has a neat way of showing trends.  It puts the stocks that gained in value in green, and the stocks that lost in value in red.  This is a very helpful way to display data to show trends.

Conditional Formatting is an Excel tool that allows you to create this kind of effect.  Conditional Formatting is not new to Excel 2010;  it has been around since Excel 2003.  This is an incredibly helpful tool, but one that can easily be overlooked by a novice.   Today, I am going to show you how to put conditional formatting into practice!