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- Dee Anne Kotzer
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- Sheri T
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You might be tempted, when thinking about creating a Lookup field in Microsoft Access, to use the Wizard.
Don’t.
It involves too much cleanup work after you are done. For example, if you use the Lookup Wizard, you must destroy any existing relationship between the two tables. During the running of the wizard, you will see a recommendation to hide the key column. This will also cause confusion, because if you do this, the field stored and the field displayed will be two different items. And finally, if you did have a relationship between the two tables with referential integrity set up, you must go back into the relationships after completing the wizard and reset the integrity.
Why do all of this?
Why not just change the properties of the field on the Lookup tab so that the field becomes a lookup field. It is faster and easier if you know which tabs to change. The list below shows how each property on the Lookup tab should be set. Simply follow these suggestions and you will have Lookup field without the bother of correcting and resetting properties.
|
Command |
Setting |
|
Display Control |
Select Combo Box |
|
Row Source Type |
Choose Table/Query |
|
Row Source |
Create a query that displays all the fields you would like to see in the dropdown area. |
|
Bound column |
1 |
|
Column Count |
Match the number of columns in your query |
|
Column Heads |
Leave this as No |
|
Column Widths |
Set the width of each column in the drop down area and separate them with semicolons |
|
List Rows |
Set the number of items to be displayed when the dropdown button is selected |
|
List Width |
Sum the column widths in the previous property |
|
Limit to List |
If set to Yes, no new entries are allowed, and auto-complete is enabled |
Leave the rest of the properties alone.
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Filed Under Desktop Education, Microsoft Access, Office |
Creating forms in MS Word 2007
By Sheri T
In MS Word 2003 there was a Forms toolbar which allowed you to place fields on a document for input on a generic form. The fields could be customized to be restrictive as to the type of input. In 2007, where there aren’t any toolbars, these form fields are not by default on the ribbon.
First click on the Office button, then click on the Word Options button along the bottom of the menu. Check Show Developer Tab on Ribbon.
This allows you to find fields to add to your document. BUT the problem is that the ab| field does not allow you customize its properties.
The solution is to click on the Legacy Tools button (found in the bottom of the Controls group on the Designer tab). The Legacy Tools are the same buttons that you had available to you in the 2003 version of MS Word! The ab| field found here allows you to limit the type of data that is input into this field to text, number, date, time or a calculation.
Filed Under General, Office, Word |
Align objects easily in PowerPoint
By Jane H
Recently, I watched an individual struggle trying to align two objects in PowerPoint 2003 with a series of click and drags and nudges. When asked, she explained that she wanted to align the two objects to their left border. Rather than manually adjust the objects, she should just select the target objects. Now, from the Drawing toolbar, select Draw > Align or Distribute > Align Left (observe following image).
Filed Under PowerPoint |
More Counting in Excel
By Jane H
Last year I wrote a blog about using the COUNT and COUNTA functions in Excel, but what if you wanted to count the number of cells within a range that meet a single criterion that you specify. For example, I want to know how many OFF2007NF classes we’ve scheduled for this year (see following image).
In this instance, I will use the COUNTIF function which has two arguments. The Range of non-blank cells you want to count and the Criteria which determines which cells will be counted (see following image). The Criteria is not case sensitive.
Some possible valid Criteria values follow:
- text string or a number (i.e. “off2007nf”)
- a cellular reference to that value (i.e. B4)
- wild cards (i.e. “*2007*”)
Note: There is a new enhanced function in Microsoft Excel 2007, called COUNTIFS, which works like COUNTIF only you can define multiple criteria.
Filed Under Excel |
Customize Excel Comments
By Jane H
If you know how to create comments, did you know that you can change that drab yellow box to a more exciting, eye-catching shape? Ok, this is easy to do in Excel 2003 and is a great way to catch people’s attention. After you insert a comment on an Excel cell, select the border of the comment (Notice the pointer has a four-header when I clicked the border).
Filed Under Excel |
The ruler, when displayed in Word, is a very helpful tool. However, it would sometimes be very nice to know a bit more than what the ruler shows you by default. For instance, you can see on the ruler that you have a tab set at three inches, but what if you want to know how far that tab is from the right margin instead of the left?
Word includes a nifty feature that allows you to see exactly where your tabs and margin settings reside on a line. To take advantage of this tool, click on a tab or margin marker on the ruler. Do not release the mouse button, however. Now, click on the right mouse button. You should now be holding down both mouse buttons.
Notice that the normal ruler measurements disappear, and instead there are distance measurements. Click the thumbnail (small image) above. The measurements outside the margins show how far to the edge of the paper (1″); those inside show how far it is from a tab to both margins (1.38″ from the left margin and 5.12″ from the right margin).
Filed Under Word |
Custom Order Sort in Excel
By Jane H
Sorting is a popular and easy feature in Excel. You simply select a cell in the column you want sorted and the click Sort button to sort in ascending or descending order. But what if you wanted an exception to the normal sort rules? In the following image the list is sorted by last name. Rosa Garcia is my best client and I want her to always be on top of the list when I sort by last name. This article will show you how a custom order sort easily achieves that result (Click image for larger view).
Filed Under Excel |
Recently I was asked if you can wrap text in a list box on an Access form. The short answer is no.
However, you could try putting an unbound text box near the list box. In the text box properties set the Control Source to point back to the list box property. In the image below, I’ve set the control source to =[lstCharity].[column](0). In this example, 0 is one less than the column number I want to display in the text box (My list only had one column). If your list had two columns, you would use 0 to display the first column, 1 to display the second column.
The results, as you can see in the following image, allows you to have a list box with long entries and still be able to read them.
Filed Under Microsoft Access |
Mouseless Formatting in Word
By Jane H
Basic formatting can be done quickly from the keyboard, reducing the amount of time you spend using the mouse. As with any formatting it starts with selecting text, which also can be done from the keyboard. To select text, try the following:
- Use the directional arrows located between the keyboard and numeric keypad to position the insertion point at the beginning of the target text.
Filed Under Word |
Benefits of Training
By Sheri T
People are either thrilled or upset when their company tells them they have to attend a training. I do understand that when you are already very busy, it just makes your day more stressful to be away from your desk for several hours. BUT, when you take the time to learn the most efficient way of performing task, you will be more efficient. Training.com states that you will actually be 230% more effective than someone who has not been trained. This means that the few hours you give up in a training class, you will make up for in efficiency multiple times over!
In today’s economy the best thing you can do for your career is to be up-to-date with the latest technology as well as being an efficient user of that technology.
Don’t consider training a burden on your day. Consider it a benefit, one that no one can take from you (even if you do have to change jobs). It is reassuring that your company is spending their money investing in your skills.
Filed Under Desktop Education, Excel, General, Microsoft Access, Office, Outlook, PowerPoint, Visio, Word |
