QUICK WAY TO ARRANGE MULTIPLE WINDOWS ON YOUR SCREEN
I frequently work with two or more groups of spreadsheets on my screen because it spares me the hassle of flipping back and forth between worksheets. But I wish there were a faster way to set them up—that is, to arrange them to show in the cascade, side-by-side or stacked mode. Do you have any suggestions?

There is a neat way, and it works in both Windows XP and Vista. You can also add Word or screens of other files or Web sites to the mix. Begin by initially loading the files you want displayed and then minimizing them so the icons are in the taskbar. Then, when you want to open some of them, hold down the Ctrl key and click on their icons in the taskbar. You’ll notice the icon borders will darken, as in a 3-D effect (see screenshot below). Then right-click on one icon and a windows arrangement menu will appear (also in screenshot), giving you a display choice.

If you change your mind after you select a file you wanted to open, a second click will deselect it.

FINE-TUNE THE CHARACTER SPACING OF TEXT IN WORD
My firm’s policy is to justify the text of all reports. Although the pages do look a lot neater with the type lined up on the right and left, some lines look too spaced out and others sometimes appear squeezed. Is there a way to fix bad spacing so our reports will look more professional?

Character spacing of justified type is a common problem, and, I’m sorry to say, depending on how fussy you are, you may have to try several format tweaks before you can repair, or at least minimize, the problem.

To save time, try these steps:

Add automatic hyphenation. The hyphenation option gives Word more flexibility on where to break a line. This should reduce uneven spacing. To add the option in Word 2003, click on Tools, Language, Hyphenate and place a check in Automatically hyphenate document (see screenshot below). Notice, too, that you have some options in that screen, so you can experiment with the size of the Hyphenation zone and the number of consecutive lines you will allow with hyphens.

If you want even more flexibility, select Manual, which gives you the option, as you scan each line of type, when and where to hyphenate (see screenshot below).

If you have lots of patience and your text is set at Automatic hyphenation, and you want to selectively remove hyphens from a document, you can open Find and Replace (Ctrl+F), go to the Replace tab and in Find what, type in ^~ (the code for a regular hyphen) and in Replace with type ^s (regular space) and click on Replace. Word will take you through the document, stopping at each hyphen. For each, choose either Replace or Find Next to skip that one. On the other hand, if you want to start over and remove all the hyphens, click on Replace All. In Word 2007, access the hyphenation tool via Page Layout, Hyphenation (see screenshot below). The options are the same.

If none of the above steps resolves your concerns and you are determined to press on, you can turn on the big formatting guns—scaling. But I warn you, if you really are a stickler about text appearance, scaling can become a compulsive activity because there are so many possible adjustments. To scale in Word 2003, click on Format, Font, the Character Spacing tab and play with the Scale control until an offending line of text meets with your approval (see screenshot below).

In Word 2007, access Character Spacing by going to the Home tab and clicking on the tiny Font arrow (see screenshot at left). If you have a similar problem in Excel—that is, if character spacing in some cells is uneven—there are ways to make adjustments, however, you don’t have as much flexibility as you do in Word.

In Excel 2003, left-click in the target cell to open Format Cells and go to the Alignment tab (see screenshot below). In 2007, Ctrl+Shift+F opens the same screen.

Under Text alignment, you have several options under Horizontal and Vertical. If that doesn’t do the trick, move to Text control, where you can select either Wrap text or Shrink to fit. If a cell height in Excel 2003 doesn’t expand enough to accommodate the text, click on Format, Row, AutoFit (see screenshot to the left).

In Excel 2007, go to Home on the Ribbon and the Cells tab and click on Format (see screenshot at right).

ACCELERATE A SLOW-OPENING MASSIVE EXCEL FILE
My work requires the use of several very large Excel files, and they take forever to open. In fact, they even take a long time to save and close. I’ve thought of breaking them up into small components, but in most cases having the data distributed over several smaller files will complicate my work. What I’d like to do is compact the files, but I can’t find that function in Excel. Can you help?

There is no compacting function in Excel 2003 or its earlier versions. But Excel 2007, with the new .xlsx file extension, uses file compression, which shrinks spreadsheet files up to 75% of their girth in the earlier .xls format. Of course, that does you no good if you’re not planning to upgrade to Vista.

However, you can buy third-party programs that help. They don’t actually compress, but they do effectively shrink Excel files by eliminating empty cells and unnecessary data. One freeware program, which is available at www.appspro.com/Utilities/Utilities.htm, is especially good at cleaning macro code, which becomes bloated by multiple edits. Several programs claim compacting abilities, and you may want to take advantage of free trial offers. You can locate them by googling Excel file compacting.

Another step you can take is to reset the file’s data range— the area that Excel interprets as containing data, which mistakenly also includes cells that have been cleared of data. To do that, open your workbook and press Ctrl+End. If you’re taken way beyond your data, that indicates Excel considers even those apparently blank cells as part of the workbook’s data range, and those apparently empty cells artificially inflate the file.

To deflate the data range to its proper size, scroll to the end of your data—the last row and column that contains data. In the example below (see screenshots) highlight column AO, hold down the Ctrl button and press on the right arrow until you get to the end of the worksheet, which is column IV. Then delete the columns by right-clicking and selecting Delete. Don’t worry, the columns won’t disappear—only the data they may hold are deleted.

Do the same for the rows: Highlight row 30, hold down Ctrl, and press the down arrow until you get to the end (65,536). Then rightclick and hit Delete.

REMOVE ERRANT PAPER-CLIP ICONS FROM E-MAIL MESSAGES
 Recently all my e-mail messages arrive adorned with a paper-clip icon—the image that indicates a file has been attached. But usually there is no attachment. It’s kind of spooky. Am I being hacked? Is someone playing a joke on me? More important, how can I remove the paper clip?

No, you’re not being hacked; and it’s not a joke. More likely it’s a bug. There are at least two possible causes for the appearance of the icon. If your e-mail software gives you the option of receiving mail in plain text rather than the more graphical HTML, switching the default to HTML may resolve the problem. What may be happening is that some graphical code embedded in the plain text is being interpreted—or actually misinterpreted— as an attachment.

To change the setting in Outlook, go to Tools, Options, Mail Format, and under Message format click on the down arrow to produce a dropdown list with three choices (see screenshot below). Select HTML and then click on OK at the bottom of the screen.

The other possibility is something I experienced because I use AVG Anti-Virus software. That product gives users the option of “certifying” incoming e-mail as virus-free—that is, it provides a visual all-clear message, and that’s been triggering the attachment icon. You can turn off that option without risk. Here’s how: Run the AVG Control Center, click on the Scanner button, Properties, Configure, and then uncheck the box for Outgoing “certify mail.”

OUTLOOK HAS A "STICKY-NOTE" FUNCTION
 Is there a way in Microsoft Office to create a “sticky-note”— that is, a note I can stick on my desktop? I’ve seen ads for third-party sticky-note applications; but before I go out and buy one, I wonder whether such a function is hidden somewhere in Microsoft Office.

 Your wondering is right on target: The sticky-note function is camouflaged under a few screens in Outlook (both XP and 2007). What makes the Outlook note very special is that you can stick it to Outlook (calendars or e-mail lists) and to the screens of any application in your computer or on the desktop.

To create a note, open Outlook and click on File, point to New and click on Note (see screenshot below). A faster way: Ctrl+Shift+N.

A small window will appear where you can type your note (see screenshot at left); and if you click on the tiny note image in the upper left, you have several options, including coloring the note and forwarding it (see screenshot at left), or you can store it in your taskbar (see screenshot below)…

…and evoke it with a click or stick it on your desktop (see screenshot below).

When you switch screens—say from the Outlook calendar to a Web site or some other application—the note may disappear from the screen but remain in the taskbar as an icon. Click on the icon, and it will reappear.

SHORTCUTS
Word: Ctrl+D opens the Font dialog box

Word: Alt+Ctrl+R produces the trademark symbol ®. But if you want it to be properly superscripted, ^®, use the next shortcut.

Word: Ctrl+Shift ++ (that’s Ctrl and Shift and two clicks on the plus sign above the equal sign) toggles between superscript and normal (Stanley or ^Stanley).

Excel: Ctrl+F4 closes selected workbook window.

Excel: Ctrl+F10 maximizes or restores the selected workbook window.

Excel: Press Scroll Lock and then simultaneously hold down Ctrl and an arrow key to quickly move through large areas of your worksheet.