Easy parallel columns in Word
Thursday, October 23, 2008 01:30 PM
Newspaper columns are easy to create in Word, but parallel columns can be troublesome. The solution? Use Word tables.
Microsoft Word
Easy parallel columns in Word
Columns are easy to create in Word--usually. Newspaper columns flow from top to bottom and then snake around to the top and down to the bottom again. In Word, you just click a button and like magic, you have newspaper columns.
On the other hand, parallel columns are a bit more troublesome. These columns are read left to right. You can use tabs, but the guesswork makes these columns awkward to work with. Moving or deleting a column is difficult at best. Displaying the tab characters make the chore easier, but you still have to delete or move items one by one.
Tina Norris Fields, a Michigan colleague, recently shared an easy way to create parallel columns: Use a table and then inhibit the borders. Now, that's magic!
Use any method you like to create the table. I usually enter the first few rows and then let Word create the table based on the existing items.
If you know the dimensions, you can create the table first and then enter data. It doesn't really matter. Use the AutoFit format and let Word adjust the table as you enter the columnar data.
When you're done, turn off the table's borders as follows:
- Select the entire table by clicking anywhere inside it. Then, choose Select from the Table menu and choose Table. Or click the double-arrow icon in both Word 2003 and Word 2007.
- With the table selected, choose Borders And Shading from the Format menu and click the Borders tab. (In Word 2007, choose Borders And Shading from the Borders And Shading drop-down list in the Paragraph group on the Home tab. This list is also available in the Table Styles group on the Design tab.)
- Click the None option under Setting.
Word will gray out the borders on screen. However, Word won't print the borders, which you can easily confirm by viewing the document in Print Preview.
Using the table structure allows you to easily move or even delete parallel columns.
Microsoft Excel
Convert measurements to metrics in Excel
With Excel's CONVERT function, you don't need to know the formulas for converting one unit of measurement to another.
For example, say you have a listing of items in Column A, whose length in feet is listed in column B. You need to convert the length from feet to meters before distributing the list to your overseas offices.
Follow these steps:
- Select C2:C8.
- Enter =CONVERT(B2,"ft","m")
- Press Ctrl + Enter.
Figure A shows the results.
Figure A
You can use the CONVERT function to convert many kinds of measurements. For example, to convert 68° Fahrenheit to its Centigrade equivalent, you would enter:
=CONVERT(68, "F", "C")
Likewise, to convert back to Fahrenheit, you would enter:
=CONVERT(F2,"C","F")
Figure B shows the both of these functions.
Figure B
See Excel Help for the correct arguments for converting other types of measurements. (Note: If Excel does not recognize the CONVERT function, you need to load the Analysis ToolPak.)
Microsoft Access
Let Access tell your customers when their orders have been shipped
For better customer service, you decide you'd like to send an e-mail message informing customers when their orders have been shipped. However, you don't want to have your shipping personnel spend time composing those messages.
Good news: They don't have to! You've already created a form that your staff uses to enter the Ship Date after an item has been shipped. Just add a Command button, like the one in Figure A, to send a shipping confirmation to the customer's e-mail address automatically.
Figure A
To create the button, follow these steps:
- Open the Form in Design Mode.
- Click the Command Button control and click and drag where you want to locate the button in your form.
- Click Cancel to cancel the Command wizard.
- Right-click the Command button and click Properties.
- Under the All tab, click in the Caption property box and enter Send Shipping Confirmation.
- Under the Event tab, click in the OnClick property box and then click the Build button and enter the following code at the prompt, as shown in Figure B:
Dim MessText
MessText = "Your order has shipped!" & vbCrLf & _
"Order Number:" & " " & Me.OrderID & " " & _
"Order Date:" & " " & Me.OrderDate & vbCrLf & _
"Shipped to:" & vbCrLf & _
Me.ShipName & vbCrLf & _
Me.ShipAddress & vbCrLf & _
Me.ShipCity & ", " & Me.ShipStateOrProvince &
" " & Me.ShipPostalCode
DoCmd.SendObject _
ObjectType:=acSendNoObject, _
To:=Me.ShipEmail, _
Subject:="Order Confirmation", _
MessageText:=MessText, _
Editmessage:=True
- Press Alt + Q.
Figure B
Now, when the user enters the ship date and clicks the Send Shipping Confirmation button, Access will compose the e-mail shown in Figure C.
Figure C
The user can review the e-mail and click the Send button. Access will then send the e-mail to the address in the ShipEmail field for that order.
Justifying
I'm trying to put one language in the right column, and the translation in the left column. Is there a way to justify these by paragraph in Word? Doing it manually isn't working, because it keeps deleting my lines when I press enter.
Posted by anonymous on Tuesday, October 28 2008 10:27 PM