Clean up haphazard character spacing in Word
Thursday, July 27, 2006 01:15 PM
If you find letters truncated or otherwise out of order after manipulating your Word document, it's because Word is trying to accommodate for spacing--and not always very well. Mary Ann Richardson explains how to correct haphazard character spacing in the document.
Microsoft Word
Clean up haphazard character spacing in Word
When editing a Word document, you may find that the tops of characters are cut off after you add graphics or increase the font size. When this happens, Word is forcing line spacing without adjusting for the added graphics or new font size. To correct this, follow these steps:
- Select the characters that are being cut off.
- Go to Format | Paragraph.
- Under the Indents And Spacing tab, click the Line Spacing box and select At Least.
- In the At box enter 12.
Word will automatically adjust the line spacing in the paragraph to at least 12 points between lines so that the tops of the characters aren't truncated. It will not, however, leave less space between lines than what you specify in the At box. If you find letters that are still cut off, repeat the procedure with a larger point size.
Microsoft Excel
Save time formatting in Excel with custom styles
Are you tired of reformatting Excel cells over and over again with the same format? Then create a style that will do the work for you.
For example, say you need to format each cell containing a sum total with a single line top border and a double-line bottom border. Also, the total results must be in currency format. To create a style that would automatically format these cells for you, follow these steps:
- Click on one of the total cells in your worksheet.
- Go to Format | Style.
- In the Style name box, type Total cell.
- Click Modify.
- Under the Number tab, select Currency.
- Under the Border tab, select Single Line under Line styles and click the Top Border button on the menu to the left.
- Select the Double Line under Line styles, then click the Bottom Border button.
- Click OK twice.
When you want to format a total cell, select the cell and go to Format | Style, choose Total Cell from the drop-down list, and click OK.
This feature wouldn't save you much time if you had to do it for every workbook; fortunately, you can copy the style to any other workbook by following these steps:
- Open the workbook that contains the already defined style.
- Open the workbook to where you would like to copy the style.
- In the workbook where you want to copy the style, go to Format | Style.
- Click Merge.
- Select the other open workbook from the list and click OK.
If you want to have your named styles available to all worksheets, you can merge them to an Excel template file.
Microsoft Access
Use these three properties to make data entry easier in Access
While you can use the Form Wizard to create forms quickly in Access, the forms it produces are not always as user friendly as you might want. By adjusting just a few form control properties, you can make it easier to work with the forms.
For example, a memo control has a number of properties that make it easier for a user to enter data. These controls are not set for ordinary text controls. However, if users only need to enter 100 words or so, you might want to use a text control instead of a memo control—but be sure it's just as easy to work with the text control. Follow these steps:
- Double-click the text control.
- In the Properties box on the Format tab, click the Scroll Bars property and choose Vertical from the drop-down list.
- On the Other tab in the Enter Key Behavior box, choose New Line In Field.
- On the Other tab in the Allow AutoCorrect box, choose Yes.
Now users will be able to scroll through the text box, press [Enter] to start a new line, and have their entries corrected with AutoCorrect as they type.
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