Print a graphic in an Excel header--sort of
Thursday, November 13, 2008 05:10 PM
Excel doesn't make it easy to use graphics in the header/footer section, but don't let that stop you. Use Excel's Print Titles feature to create a pseudo header.
Microsoft Excel
Print a graphic in an Excel header--sort of
Word lets you insert a graphic into a document's header or footer. Excel's not so flexible, but you can cheat.
Insert the graphic and specify it using the Print Titles feature. Excel will print the graphic at the top of each printed page, which is really what you want -- header or not.
The first step is to get the graphic into the workbook. Try to insert it into cell A1 and then adjust the cell's height to accommodate it, but that might not work. Depending on the size of the graphic, Excel might insert it as is, usurping several rows and columns.
To insert a graphic, choose Picture from the Insert menu, select From File, locate the file, and then click Insert. In Excel 2007, click Picture in the Illustrations group on the Insert tab.
The next step is to identify the graphic using the Titles feature as follows:
- Choose Page Setup from the File menu and click the Sheet tab. In Excel 2007, the Page Setup group is on the Page Layout tab.
- Click the row or drag across the rows that contain the graphic. Or enter the rows in the Rows To Repeat At Top control. For instance, the RabbitTracks graphic (above) covers rows 1, 2, and 3. Therefore, you'd enter $1:$3. When you finish, click OK.
Click Print Preview to view the graphic on all pages of the worksheet. You can't really tell, but the following picture shows the second page of a long sheet, and each page displays the same graphic at the top.
Microsoft Access
Create an Access form that calculates how long a project has been underway
Do you need to know how long you've spent on a project? You can create an Access form that will answer that question for you. Follow these steps:
- Click on the Form Object in the Database Window and click New. (In Access 2007, click the Create tab and then click Forms Design in the Forms group.)
- Click the Text Box control tool and then click and drag in the form where you want to locate the control.
- Click on the text box label and change the caption to Enter Project Start Date.
- Right-click the text box and select Properties.
- Click in the Name Property box and enter ProjectStart.
- Click the drop-down arrow of the Format property box and select ShortDate 6.
- Click the Text Box control tool and then click and drag in the form to create a second text box below the first one.
- Click the text box label and change the caption to Actual Work in Months, as shown in Figure A.
Figure A
- Right-click the second text box and select Properties.
- Click in the ControlSource property box and under the Data tab, click the Build button.
- Type the following function code as shown in Figure B:
=DateDiff("m",[ProjectStart],Now())
Figure B
- Click OK.
- Close and save the form as Total Work Calculations.
When you run the form and enter a date in the ProjectDate text box, Access will automatically display the number of months from the entered date to today, as shown in Figure C.
Figure C
Microsoft Word
Change case in your Word documents with easy toggle shortcuts
Do you find yourself continually pressing the Caps Lock key to change from uppercase to lowercase, and vice versa, as you type? While the Caps Lock key is better than having to search for the Change Case commands with the mouse, you can't use it to change the case of text that has already been typed.
Word does provide a couple of toggle key combinations you can use to change the case of selected text without retyping. For example, say you typed the following text and want to change it to all uppercase:
Caution! To avoid injury, please read all instructions first.
Just select the text and press Ctrl + Shift +A.
You can also use this key combination to change case as you type. Follow these steps:
- Press Ctrl + Shift + A.
- Type: Caution! To avoid injury, please read all instructions first.
- Press Ctrl + Spacebar to return to lowercase.
Another helpful key combination is Shift + F3, which lets you toggle case from lowercase to uppercase and then to initial caps. For example, say you just typed Tcp/Ip. To change it to all uppercase, select it and then press Shift + F3. To change the phrase "All's well that ends well" to initial caps, select the text and then press and hold the Shift key while you press F3 three times.
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