Tech

Guides

Business Applications ▪ Database Management ▪ Disaster Recovery ▪ Enterprise Servers & Storage ▪ IT Security ▪ Java ▪ Microsoft Office Suite ▪ Network Admin ▪ Open Source ▪ SMB ▪ SOA ▪ Tech Management ▪ Software/Web Development ▪ Windows Server ▪ Wireless Tech

Microsoft Office Suite TechGuides

Use Word’s Character Spacing to align graphics with text

By Mary Ann Richardson, Special to ZDNet Asia
Thursday, April 17, 2008 05:07 PM

Insert a picture according to your preferences, instead of settling for Word’s default positioning.

Microsoft Word

Use Word’s Character Spacing to adjust your graphics in line with text

When you insert a picture in line with text, you don’t have to settle for Word’s default positioning. For example, in the sample text below, the inserted graphic extends too far above the line.

You decide that a better layout would have the graphic positioned slightly below the line. Follow these steps to change it:

Go to Format | Font. (In Word 2007, click the Dialog Launcher in the Font group on the Home tab.)
Click the Character spacing tab.
Click the drop-down arrow of the Position text box and select Lowered, then click OK.

Word positions the graphic slightly lower than the line of text as shown:

Microsoft Excel

Eliminate those unfriendly error messages with Excel 2007’s IFERROR function

Do your Excel users know what to do when they get an error--or do they just cringe when they see that dreaded #N/A!? For example, say your application lets them enter an employee ID number the Vlookup function uses to look up an employee's name.

If no number in the table corresponds to the user's entry, Excel automatically returns #N/A! In response to that error message, the user may often spend quite a bit of time retrying that entry.

A better message might be one that explains that the employee number is no active since the employee has left the company.

To replace the cryptic message with a meaningful message, earlier versions of Excel would require you to rewrite the lookup formula as part of an IF statement, such as:

=IF(ISNA(VLOOKUP(A2,$AA$1:$AB$99,2,False)),"This employee has left the company.", VLOOKUP(A2,$AA$1:$AB$99,2,False))

While this statement would certainly make your spreadsheet more user friendly, it is not very efficient, forcing Excel to calculate VLOOKUP twice if the employee number is in the lookup table. To avoid having to recalculate the function twice in an IF statement, Excel 2007 offers an alternative: the IFERROR() function. Using IFERROR, you would replace the above formula with the following:

=IFERROR(VLOOKUP(A2,$AA$1:$AB$99,2,False), "This employee has left the company.")

In addition to #N/A!, you can use the IFERROR() function to capture #DIV/0!, #NUM!, #NAME?, and #NULL! errors that you anticipate your users might get while working with your worksheet. For example, if a certain calculation frequently yields division by zero errors, the following IFERROR statement would provide a more meaningful message:

=IFERROR(D3/D6,"You cannot divide by zero. Change the value in D6 to a nonzero number.")

Microsoft Access

Eliminate blank pages in your Access report

When every other page of your 10-page Access report prints out blank, your first thought may be to change the report orientation from Portrait to Landscape. Rather than spend time redesigning your report layout, open the report in Design view and check the position of the report controls next to the right page margin.

If any of the controls touch the right-margin border or even override it, Access automatically increases the right page margin to accommodate the controls. If this increases the margin past the eight-inch mark, Access cannot print the entire page on one piece of paper. (The blank page is actually a printout of the rest of the preceding page.)

To eliminate the blank pages, follow these steps:

Open the report in Design view.
Click on the right border of any control that extends beyond the eight-inch right margin mark and drag it to the left so the control is within the margin.
Repeat step 2 for each control extending beyond the margin.
Go to File | Page Setup. (In Access 2007, click the Page Setup button in the Print Preview ribbon.)
Click on the Column tab.
Under Column size, click in Width text box and enter 8, then click OK.