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Microsoft Office Suite TechGuides

Add the Date Picker control to Word 2007 forms

By Mary Ann Richardson, Special to ZDNet Asia
Thursday, January 17, 2008 01:35 PM

With Word 2007’s new Date Picker control, you can make it easy for customers to enter dates in your forms.

Microsoft Word

Add the Date Picker control to Word 2007 forms

With Word 2007's new Date Picker control, you can make it easy for customers to enter dates in your forms. For example, suppose you create a Project Requirements form that lets customers list the requirements for their next system upgrade. You would like them to suggest the best times to start and finish the project. Follow these steps to add the corresponding Date Picker controls to your form:

Click where you want customers to enter the project start date in your form.
Type Project Start Date:.
Press [Tab].
Click the Developer tab. (If you don't see it, click the Office button, click Word Options, click Popular, and then select the Show Developer Tab In The Ribbon check box.)
Click the Date Picker control in the Controls group.
Click Properties in the Controls group.
Click in the Title text box and enter Start Date:.
In the Display The Date Like This list box, select the desired date format and then click OK.
Click to the right of the Date Picker control to deselect, and then press [Enter] twice.
Type Project End Date:.
Press [Tab].
Click the Developer tab.
Click the Date Picker Control in the Controls group.
Click Properties in the Controls group.
Click inside the Title text box and enter End Date:.
In the Display The Date Like This list box, select the desired date format and then click OK.
Click to the right of the Date Picker control to deselect.
Click the Protect Document command in the Protect group.
If you are using Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007, Office Professional Plus 2007, or Office Enterprise 2007, click Restrict Formatting And Editing. Otherwise, for other releases of Word 2007, skip to step 20.
In the Restrict Formatting And Editing pane, click the Allow Only This Type Of Editing in the Document check box.
Click the list arrow and select Filling In Forms.
Click the Yes, Start Enforcing Protection button and then click OK.
Click the Office button.
Click Save As.
From the Save As Type drop-down menu, click Word Template.
Click the Trusted Template folder on the left, enter the filename Project Requirements Form, and then click Save.

To use the form, follow these steps:

Click the Office button and then click New.
Click My Templates from the list on the left.
Click the Project Requirements template under My templates tab.
Click OK.
Enter the information required by each control.
To enter the project start date as today's date, click the Project Start Date Picker control, click the drop-arrow, and click Today.
To enter the project end date for the end of next month, click the Project End Date Date Picker control, click the drop-down arrow, click the right arrow to display the next month, and then click 30.
Save and close the document.

Microsoft Excel

Use Excel's POISSON function to predict business volumes

You can use Excel's POISSON function to make operational decisions based on predicted business volumes. For example, when hiring for the upcoming end-of-year shutdown, you need to know how many customers to expect will be contacting the help desk. Your records show that the mean number of customers that contacted the help desk last year was 11 per hour. You can use this number and the POISSON function to predict the probable number of customers that will contact the help desk this year. Follow these steps:

In cell A1, enter Mean Number Of Customers Per Hour.
In cell B2, enter 11.
In cell A3, enter Customers.
In cell B3, enter Individual Probability.
In cell C3, enter Cumulative Probability.
In A4:A24, enter the numbers from 0 to 20.
In cell B4, enter the following formula: =POISSON($A4,$B$1,False).
Copy the formula in B4 to B5:B24.
In cell C4, enter the following formula: =POISSON($A4,$B$1,True).
Copy the formula in C4 to C5:C24.

The values in Column B indicate the probability that the number of customers entered in the corresponding cell in Column A will contact the help desk during the holiday season. The values in Column C indicate that 0 to the number of customers entered in the corresponding cell in Column A will contact the help desk. In this example, for 85 percent of the time, you can expect 0-14 customers per hour to contact the help desk. Consequently, if you hire enough employees to adequately cover 14 customers, you should be covered 85 percent of the time.

Microsoft Access

Have Access forms automatically close after use

If your users work with multiple Access forms, here's how to make their work easier by having a form close automatically once they are finished with it: