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

Let me see if I can weigh in here and help out:
In step 6, you actually need to click inside the specific area—like the Header, for instance—wherever you want that page number to show up. Once you're there, look for that "Link to Previos" icon and click it; you have to do this to get rid of that "Same as Previous" setting. After that, move straight to step 7. All you really have to do is hit the first icon in the floating menu labeled "Insert Page number," and boom, it should display page 5 right where you want it. From there, just hit Close. That’s it. You're done. Honestly, you don't even need to bother with steps 8 or 9.

restlesstiger102 said:Reading comprehension really does work wonders.
Number 2. Every time I try to do the numbering on that site, it’s a total disaster. It’s not just me, either—others are hitting the same wall. I can't find where I'm messing up because I'm following the instructions to a T.

Probably best if I don't jump back into this mess. Like you said, gotta actually read with some comprehension first.
So you’re saying it never works out for you, but then in the post right below, you claim you actually pulled it off once???

The guys already filled me in, so I don't think I need to go over this again.

Number 1. First 4 pages don't have page numbers.
Yo, page 2—the fifth page of the doc—needs to start numbering at 5, not 1. Fix it.

If things just aren't clicking, Try splitting it into two separate sections. Take the numbering out of the first one, then turn it back on for the second one—but make it start at 5.

I managed to pull it off just once, but in every subsequent project I’ve tackled, the results simply haven't matched that initial success. I even went as far as walking my close friends through those exact same steps to see if they could replicate it, yet none of them had any luck either.

I am planning to give it another serious attempt now, and I am sincerely hoping that this time, everything finally falls into place.

Walter Jackson48 said:Allow me to offer my own perspective in hopes of assisting:
In step six, you first need to click directly inside the specific area—such as the Header—where you intend for the page number to appear. Once your cursor is active there, you should click the "Link to Previous" icon to clear out the "Same as Previous" setting. From there, you can proceed straight to step seven, which simply involves clicking the very first option in the floating menu labeled "Insert Page Number," and it will correctly display the number 5. After that, you just select Close, and the process is complete. You can completely disregard steps eight and nine.

restlesstiger102, thank you. I suspect the issue lies precisely within this sixth step. I am going to attempt to follow your instructions now, and I am hopeful that this approach will finally resolve the matter.

Siman, thanks so much. It turns out the error was specifically in step six. I really appreciate you pointing out that the cursor needs to be positioned within the header or footer area; I hadn't given that any thought at all, which is clearly why the system wouldn't accept my changes.

In fact, I didn't even need to manually set it to start from the fifth page. The document had already been configured so that the first four pages aren't numbered, effectively starting the sequence on page five.

restlesstiger102 said:Walter Jackson48, thanks. The mistake was exactly at step 6. Thanks for pointing out that the cursor needs to be inside the header or footer. I totally missed that, so obviously that's why it wasn't working.

Can't believe that was the issue. 😢
To actually see "Link to Previous" on the document itself, you have to click into the Header or Footer to activate it, or enable it via the menu—which is clearly shown in the tutorial screenshots provided.

Fine, I'll go ahead and add that to steps 5 and 6 if the tutorial is confusing people.

Hey everyone!
I am seriously struggling here and I can't for the life of me figure this out, and I need it fixed ASAP for some calculations I'm running.
Why is it that when I type 24840083200735935 into a cell—which is already formatted as a number—it just forces it to be 24840083200735900?
No matter what I try, it keeps entering it that way.
What on earth is the problem here?

George Fox23 said:Hey everyone, what's up?
I'm really struggling here and I can't figure this out, and I need it ASAP for some calculations I'm running.
Why is it that when I type 24840083200735935 into a cell formatted as a number, it just changes it to 24840083200735900?
No matter what I try, it keeps rounding it like that.
What gives? What am I doing wrong?

Just wanted to ask quick...
I have to divide that specific number by 97, and I need the resulting remainder to show up in another cell.
Like, if I do 21 divided by 4, it's 5 with a remainder of 1—I just need that 1.
I honestly can't remember how to isolate the number after the decimal point!

Thanks a ton!

George Fox23 said:I have to divide that number by 97.

That number 97 always makes me think of calculating a checksum for some kind of security code, so, well,
if that's what you're dealing with, this might actually be useful for you:
http://www.elitesecurity.org/t383093-0
just grab the file attached by @neptuncokg from November 30th, 2009.

George Fox23 said:Hey everyone,
I'm hitting a wall here and I can't make sense of this, and I need it fixed immediately for some calculations I'm running.
Why is it that when I type 24840083200735935 into a cell formatted as a number, it just forces it to 24840083200735900?
No matter what I try, it keeps overwriting it like that.
What am I missing here?

It's because Excel has a 15-digit precision limit. Basically, you can only input 15 significant digits per cell, and since you're trying to pack 17 in there, 🙂

Dana Diaz8 said:It’s because Excel caps out at 15 digits. You can only type up to 15 significant figures in a single cell, but since you're trying to use 17, 🙂

Thanks!

Walter Jackson48 said:Seeing the number 97 makes me think of calculating a checksum for some kind of code, so
if that's what you're after, maybe this will help you out:
http://www.elitesecurity.org/t383093-0
and just grab that file attached by @neptuncokg from Nov 30, 2009

thanks so much!
now I just gotta wrap my head around what they actually did

yeah, we're talking about a checksum here ;-)

Hi everyone, I'm using Microsoft Office Excel 2007 and I'm a bit stuck. For some reason, my COUNTIF function isn't working correctly. I'm trying to count how many times the word "Nice" appears in column D, which covers 20,730 cells. I've been entering it as =COUNTIF(D1:.D20730,"Nice"), but I keep getting error messages. Even when I try a smaller range like =COUNTIF(D1:D20,"Nice"), the errors just won't go away... :/

Just a heads up, that little white dot next to D20730 is there because without it, the software displays this smiley face 😁

It’s your delimiter—try using a semicolon instead of a comma

Oh man, thanks... I really messed that one up 😁
...

I just checked the 'Help with this function' guide, and it actually says to use a comma instead of a semicolon... I honestly thought my eyes were playing tricks on me for a second. It's written wrong here...

George Fox23 said:thanks a lot
now I just have to figure out what they actually did

Those of us who go out of our way to help others... we really appreciate it when the person asking the question
actually lets us know if the answer worked. A good fix should be useful to everyone else reading the thread. But instead, people solve their issues and then just go silent leaving everyone else in the dark about how it was fixed. Honestly, at this rate, we might just have to start keeping a blacklist of people who never acknowledge a solution, and then we won't bother helping them next time.

hollowdrifter79 said:I just checked—the 'help with this function' guide actually tells you to use a comma instead of a semicolon... and here I was thinking I’d finally lost my eyesight. Turns out the documentation is just wrong.

It really all boils down to whatever Region & Language settings you have dialed in on Windows. Just pull up those advanced settings and look for the "list separator"—that's the one you want to use. 🙂

I really need some help here—it’s kind of an emergency! I'm working in Word 2010. and I am completely stuck trying to figure out how to type Greek letters. I've tried digging through all the different options under Insert symbol, but nothing seems to work for what I need. Specifically, I'm looking to insert the letter xi! Does anyone know where that's hiding? Also, a quick follow-up question: does anyone happen to know how to add standard deviation markers to a chart that's already been created? To be more specific, I have a graph with three bars, and I need to add an error bar representing the stand. dev. above each one to show the deviation from the base value. If anyone could point me in the right direction, I would be incredibly grateful!

granitepilot342 said:I need help, fast! I'm using Word 2010 and I absolutely cannot find where the Greek letters are hidden. I've tried everything under Insert Symbol, but nothing works. I specifically need to insert the letter xi! Also, does anyone know how to add standard deviation to an existing chart? I have a bar chart with three columns, and each one needs its own error bar showing the deviation from the base value. Please help, this is urgent!

For the first part, try changing your current font—say, Times New Roman—to Greek Math Symbol. Once you've done that, just hit the "e" key on your keyboard and the Greek letter xi should pop up. If it doesn't, you might just have to cycle through the rest of the keys until you stumble upon it.

As for the second part, I honestly have no idea what you're looking for, so I can't really offer any guidance there.