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Easily convert 2D objects into 3D

By Mary Ann Richardson, Special to ZDNet Asia
Thursday, November 02, 2006 09:40 AM

Just because a sheet of paper is flat doesn't mean your images must be. Mary Ann Richardson tells how to make a two-dimensional object pop as a three-dimensional image in Word--and how to add a pattern or texture, too.

Microsoft Word

Easily convert 2D objects into 3D in Word

If you can draw a two-dimensional object in Word, you can easily create a three-dimensional object. For example, to create a cone out of a circle, follow these steps:

Right-click a toolbar and select Drawing.
Click the Oval button in the Drawing toolbar.
Click and drag to draw a circle in your document.
With the circle selected, click the 3-D style button in the drawing toolbar.
Click the third 3-D setting in the fourth row.

Word will expand the circle's edges and adjust its angle to create a cone-shaped object. Now, with the object selected, you can choose a button on the 3-D Settings toolbar to change its direction, lighting, color, and depth. For example, to change the color of its extrusion to blue, select the object and follow these steps:

Click the 3-D style button.
Click 3-D settings.
Click the 3-D Color button arrow and select blue.

You can also change the fill color of the top of the cone by following these steps:

Select the cone.
In the Drawing toolbar, click on the Fill Color button arrow, and select dark blue.

By using Fill Effects in step 2, you can also add a pattern or texture to the top of the object.

Microsoft Excel

Use Find to edit selected cells in an Excel worksheet all at once

Excel's Find function makes it easy to search for and edit multiple cells. The Find dialog box expands to display a list of all the cells that contain the search criteria in the selected worksheets. You can click an entry in the list, and it will take you to the cell in the worksheet so you can edit each cell in the window individually; or, you can use the Find window to edit all the found cells at once. For example, suppose you copied last year's worksheet and need to change all the cells that contain the text "2005" to "2006." Follow these steps:

Select the worksheet containing the text you want to replace.
Press [Ctrl]F.
In the Find What text box, type 2005.
Click the Find All button.
Click on one of the entries listed.
Press [Ctrl]A.
Click the Replace tab.
Enter 2005 in the Replace With box.
Click the Replace All button.

You can also use the Find feature to make formatting changes to more than one cell at a time. For example, to change all cells that contain 2006 to the font color of red, follow these steps:

Select the worksheet you want to search.
Press [Ctrl]F.
In the Find What text box, type 2006.
Click the Find All button.
Click on any one of the entries displayed in the Find window and press [Ctrl]A.
Click on the Font color button in the Formatting toolbar and select red.

Microsoft Access

Use Access queries to archive old data

An Access database can consist of thousands of records, but users may access only a fraction of them on a daily basis. If you want to archive less frequently accessed records, one method is to use the Append query together with the Delete query.

For example, say you want to archive the records of all employees who have left the company within the last year as indicated by the Termination Date field in the Employees table. Follow these steps:

Open the database containing the employee records.
From the Database window, right-click the Employees Table and select Export.
Navigate to the Employees database file and click Export.
In the Export Employees To box, enter Employees Archive.
Click Definition Only, and then click OK.
From the Objects list in the Database window, select Queries.
Click the New button, and then click OK.
Click Employees table, then click the Add button.
Select all fields by clicking the first field, press [Shift], and then scroll to and click the last field.
Click and drag the selected fields to the design grid.
Click in the criteria cell of the Termination Date field and enter <1/1/2006.
Click the Query type button arrow in the Query toolbar.
Click Append.
Select Employees Archive under Table name, and then click OK.
Run the query.
Click Yes.
Close and Save the query.
From the Employees Database window, click Queries under Objects and click the New button, then click OK.
Click Employees table, then click the Add button.
Select Employee ID field, press [Ctrl] and select the Termination Date field.
Click and drag the selected fields to the design grid.
Click in the criteria cell of the Termination date field and enter <1/1/2006.
Click the Query type button arrow in the Query toolbar.
Click Delete, and then click Yes.

You can now move or copy the Employees Archive table to offline or network storage as determined by your organizational policy.

If the Employees table is part of a one-to-many relationship, the deleted records will remain in the related tables unless you have turned on Cascading Deletes. Thus, before archiving the records, ensure referential integrity of all related tables by following these steps:

From the Employees database window, click the Relationships button in the database toolbar.
Right-click the line connecting two of the tables, and select Edit Relationship.
Click Enforce Referential Integrity.
Click Cascade Delete Related Records, and then click OK.

Perform steps 1 through 4 for each table in the relationship.