Microsoft Office Q&A: Ask anything (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.)

Hey everyone,

I could use a little help with PowerPoint 2010.
I'm not quite sure how to phrase this properly, so I'll just try to explain what I'm looking for 🙂
Basically, I want to be able to click through a slide and have arrows point to specific parts of a chart—or maybe have them circle certain data points—only when I actually click my mouse. I don't want all those annotations visible the second I switch to the slide; it needs to be an interactive thing that happens on command. :/

Anyway, if anyone knows how to pull this off, you’d be doing me a massive favor.
Thanks

Sarah Campbell16! You've got a private message waiting for you.

Hi.

I could really use some help. I have a drop-down menu in Excel, where clicking the cell opens a list to choose from. Since the list is huge, it’s a pain having to scroll through everything manually to find what I need. Does anyone know how to set it up so that when I start typing the first few letters, the drop-down automatically jumps to the item I'm looking for? Thanks so much!

It’s doable—though I wouldn't say it's easy—you'll probably need to use some macro commands:

or maybe
http://trumpexcel.com/2013/10/excel-...h-suggestions/

Hey there,
Does anyone here know how to write an Excel formula for column H? I need to divide the lowest price by the initial starting price for whichever bidder happens to be the cheapest for that specific row.
Here’s the setup: we have two vendors, Peter and Mark. Each one submits a starting price and then a discounted price. In the first row, Mark is the winner because his discounted price is 6 and his start was 8. In the second row, Peter wins (20 vs 8), and in the third, it's Mark again (35 vs 32). I'm trying to figure out the math for column H so it calculates the ratio between the starting price and the final discounted price for the cheapest vendor in every single row. I already have the formula for column G to find the minimum price, which is =MIN(C5:F5), but what goes in H?

Here’s the formula for finding that lowest (final) price over in column G: =MIN(D2;F2)
Then, for the index in column H, use this: =IF(AND(D2=G2;F2=G2);G2/MIN(C2;E2);IF(D2=G2;D2/C2;F2/E2))
Just a quick breakdown of the logic:
- I set it up so the starting prices are in columns C and D, while the final ones sit in E and F.
- If both final prices end up being identical, the formula just grabs whichever starting price was lower.
- Also, if the initial price is lower than the final one, you'll see an index greater than 1.
Hopefully, one of these works for what you're trying to do! ☕

No, you've got it wrong. Column C is Peter's initial bid, and D is his final one. Column E shows Mark's starting price, while F is his final offer. Basically, the program needs to identify which bidder hit the lowest price, drop that value into column G, and then calculate the ratio between that first bid and the final price for whichever bidder was cheaper—and it doesn't have to be the same person for every item. For apples, Mark wins on price; for pears, it's Peter; for plums, we're back to Mark.
How do I actually pull this off? Any ideas?

One way to handle this is by using the LOOKUP function:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/ex...010069832.aspx


The code:

edit: I think I might have misunderstood how the LOOKUP function behaves—it’ll probably just pick the last entry from the lowest prices and overwrite the value there, I guess.

quietcobra21 said:Actually, column C is the initial price Peter offered, and D is his final price. Column E shows Mark's initial offer, while F is Mark's final price. Basically, the spreadsheet identifies which bidder gave the lowest price, puts that value in column G, and then calculates the ratio of the initial price to the final price for whichever bidder was cheaper—and it doesn't have to be the same person for every item. For apples, Mark was cheaper; for pears, it was Peter; and for plums, we're back to Mark.
How do I pull this off? Help?

No, wait, did you try using a formula yet?
Look, if you don't care about keeping a strict structure—like, if the lowest price could just be any cell belonging to a specific user—you can actually handle this entire thing using MIN and MAX functions.
- finding the lowest price
Code:

- this grabs all the values, both starting and final prices.
- calculating the index
Code:

- if both people submitted the exact same lowest price, the index is the lowest price divided by the highest price; if they aren't the same, then
- if the first person has the lowest price (regardless of whether it was their start or end price), the index is the lowest price divided by their own highest price; otherwise
- the index is the lowest price divided by the second person's highest price.
☕

George Sanders37 said:One way to handle this is by using the LOOKUP function:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/ex...010069832.aspx


The setup:

In column D, use =MIN(C2:C5)
In column E, use =LOOKUP(MIN(C2:C5); C2:C5; B2:B5)
The first part is what you're searching for, the second is the range to search, and the third is the value to pull once it finds a match.
In column F, use =D2/E2

Edit: My bad. I misunderstood how LOOKUP fails. It’ll just grab the last value from the lowest prices and overwrite accordingly.

You completely flipped the table layout. Is there any way to make it work exactly the way I laid it out?

Basically, no

LOOKUP works with ranges of values—it’s not really meant for when things are just scattered all over the sheet

I used an example where the data starts over at cell D2. If your setup actually kicks off at cell C2, then you'll want to use these formulas instead:
Code:

☕

That felt a little too complicated for me, so I ended up finding another way:



Thanks!

Is it possible to configure Microsoft Excel so that whenever I enter information into column 1, those exact details are automatically mirrored in, say, column 10? The reason I am seeking this solution is that I need to ensure the address, owner's name, and contact information appear on every single page of an A4 printout. Alternatively, would it be feasible to have the data visible only in column 1 on my screen, yet somehow have it automatically populate on every printed page?

I was just thinking about how much easier life gets when you finally get those spreadsheets organized. It’s funny how much time we spend staring at cells, trying to make everything line up perfectly. Honestly, I could spend all day tweaking my Microsoft Excel files until they look exactly the way I want them to! Jack Hayes says:
Is there a way to set up Excel so that whatever I type in Column 1 automatically copies itself over to, say, Column 10? The reason I’m asking is that I need to make sure the address, owner's name, and contact info show up on every single page of my A4 printouts. I was wondering if I could either have the data mirror itself into Column 10, or—even better—just have everything stay in Column 1 on my screen while magically appearing at the top of every printed page. Any tips?

Looking for duplicate rows or columns? Just check the menu. I’ve been messing around with my spreadsheets all morning, trying to get everything looking just right before I send them over to the boss. I hit a little snag while working in Microsoft Excel—specifically when it comes to getting those header rows to show up on every single page when you print. It’s one of those things that seems simple until you're staring at a hundred pages of data and realizing the titles are only on the first one! Does anyone have a quick tip on how to set up "Rows to repeat at top" so the layout stays consistent? I want to make sure this looks professional once it hits the printer. Thanks in advance! I'm sorry, I think you might have sent that message before you were finished typing! What was on your mind? I was playing around with some data yesterday and realized I needed to fix my print settings. If you're trying to get those specific columns to show up on every single page when you print, here’s how you handle it. First, head over to the Page Layout tab in Microsoft Excel. Look for the Print Titles option—it's right there in the Page Setup group. Once that window pops up, click into the "Columns to repeat at left" box. Instead of typing anything manually, just go ahead and click the column header on your sheet that you want to stay visible. It's much easier than trying to guess the cell references! After that, hit OK and you should be all set.That’s probably tucked away in Page Setup. Or maybe somewhere else nearby. Just Google it.. ☕

Jack Hayes said:Are you perhaps struggling to locate the specific tool required to identify duplicate rows or columns within your spreadsheet? If so, might I suggest that you take a moment to look through the menu options? How does one ensure that specific Rows are repeated consistently across every page of a document? Is there a reliable way to maintain this structure within Excel? i Is there anything more frustrating than watching your data drift away from its context as you scroll through an endless spreadsheet? How can one possibly maintain clarity when those vital headers vanish into the void? I am simply asking: wouldn't life be much easier if we could just lock our columns in place?That is likely located within the Page Setup menu. Or perhaps elsewhere? Could you perhaps take the liberty of performing a quick search on Google?. ☕

Thank you.

Guys, I need some help here!

I'm grinding through this massive project in Word 2010, but I'm dropping in AutoCAD drawings using better WMF and building out tables directly in Word too.

Given everything I've got going on, what’s the best file type to save this as?
I really don't want to spend all this time typing only to have the whole layout fall apart once it hits the printer.

Should I go with: - all files
- Word Document
- Rich Text Format
- Or something else entirely...

When am I actually supposed to use those different formats?

Or would it be smarter to just save the whole thing as a PDF right away and print from there?

Thanks!

shadownomad13 said:Hey everyone, I need some help!

I am currently working on an extensive project in Word 2010, where I am inserting AutoCAD drawings via the better WMF program, and I am also building several tables directly within Word.

Given these specific requirements, which file format would be the most reliable for saving my work?
I am deeply concerned about maintaining the integrity of my layout; I certainly wouldn't want to spend hours typing everything only to find that the formatting has completely collapsed once it's printed.

Should I opt for: - All Files
- Word Document
- Rich Text Format
- Or perhaps something else entirely?

Whatever you do, do not use RTF.

quietcobra21 said:Best regards,
I was wondering if anyone could help me out with a formula for column H. I need to divide the lowest price by the initial starting price for whichever vendor ends up being the cheapest in that row.
Basically, we have two vendors, Peter and Mark. Each one submits an initial quote and then a discounted price. In the first row, Mark is the winner because his bottom price is 6, while his starting price was 8. In the second row, Peter takes it (20 vs 8), and in the third, Mark wins again (35 vs 32). So, what would the formula look like for column H to calculate the ratio of the starting price to the discounted price for the cheapest vendor in each specific row? For column G, where we find the minimum price, I'm using =MIN(C5:F5), but what about H?

You can actually pull this off with a straightforward IF function.
Just drop this into cell H5 and drag it down the rest of the way.

Code:

So, here’s the deal—does Word 2007 actually have the guts to catch my typos when I’m typing stuff out in English?
Like, say (just for kicks) I mess up and type "Yu mast be loged" and the program jumps in to suggest the right way to write "You must be logged"