Microsoft Office Q&A: General Discussion (Word, Excel, PowerPoint...)

So, honestly, I’m really just looking for something specifically for Word... I haven't been able to track it down online (or maybe I just don't know where on earth to look, haha), but it would be super helpful to have more than just English and American options. I find myself working with Bulgarian and Slovak quite a bit lately, so having those would be a lifesaver...

I personally stick with using Microsoft Proofing Tools for Office

Jack Alvarez said:I usually just stick with Microsoft Proofing Tools for Office myself, you know?

Alright, thanks man. I guess I'll give that a shot with 🙂

Man, I think I’m in a bit of a jam. Up until a few days ago, I was using dBase—just a simple little program that runs fine even in DOS. Now, Excel has imported all my dBase files (.dbf files), but it’s acting like every single year is 100 years in the past. In dBase, I only ever typed in two digits for the year, like 07 for 2007, and I always knew it stored it as 1907. It was never an issue before because I only ever looked at those two digits plus the date. Is there any way to bulk-update all these years by 100 years without messing up the days or months? I’ve been using dBase since 2000, so right now all my data is showing up as being from 1900 to 1911. To make matters worse, it’s tripping me up when I try to process things; if I try to sum data across old and new dates, it won't work, and the cells turn blue for the old dates while staying white for the new ones. Thanks in advance for any help...

Charles Murphy78 said:Thanks in advance for any help you can provide....

If I’m reading this correctly—and I might be wrong here, but I think I've got the gist—you're just looking for a one-time conversion. There's probably an even more streamlined way to handle this, though I suspect this method is the most reliable:

- first, open up a blank column where you'll calculate those shifted dates;

- assuming your "original" dates are sitting in column A, for instance, just type =DATE(YEAR(A1)+100,MONTH(A1),DAY(A1)) into that empty cell;

- drag that formula down as far as you need to go;

- highlight all those newly "shifted" dates and copy them;

- go back to the very first "original" date, then select Edit->paste special->Values;

- finally, just delete that extra column you created.

Nicholas King said:If I'm following you right, you just need a one-time conversion. There's probably an easier way, but this gets the job done:

- open up a blank column to calculate those shifted dates;

- if your "old" dates are in Column A, type =DATE(YEAR(A1)+100,MONTH(A1),DAY(A1)) into the empty cell

- drag that formula down as far as you need to

- select those new "shifted" dates and copy them

- click the first "old" date cell and do paste special -> Values

- delete that extra column you made.

First off, thanks for the help! It'll be fine once I figure out how to actually apply this formula. Here's what I tried. My dates are in Column A and go from A2 to A2696—those are the ones that are a hundred years off—and then from A2697 to A2702 they look correct. I typed the formula right below the last correct date like this: =DATE(YEAR(A2:A2696)+100,MONTH(A2:A2696),DAY(A2:A2696))
But nothing happens, except everything gets outlined in a thin blue box and tells me I've entered too many arguments. I bet you can see exactly where I messed up just by looking at it. I only started using Excel a few days ago, so I'm still pretty lost. Thanks again, cheers!

So, you just type it right into the first empty cell. Simple as that. I think you might have hit "send" a little too early there! I'm just sitting here with my coffee, ready whenever you are. What's on your mind?So, like, you're looking at B2, C2, D2... or just whichever cell is the first one available.
Just copy that over there:
So, I was messing around with some formulas earlier, just playing with dates, and I stumbled upon this little trick. It’s pretty simple, really. If you want to jump ahead exactly a century from whatever date you have sitting in cell A2, you can just use this: =DATE(YEAR(A2)+100, MONTH(A2), DAY(A2)) It’s kind of wild to think about, isn't it? Adding a hundred years to a date... makes me feel ancient just typing it out! Anyway, it works perfectly if you're trying to project something way into the future. Just a little bit of math to make life easier.

And look, check it out—does that look okay to you?
If it says OK, just click on that cell with the entry and you'll see a little border pop up around it. See that tiny square sitting in the bottom right corner of the box? Just grab that with your mouse, hold it down, and drag it downwards—you can go all the way from A2 to A2696 if you need to, and honestly, it doesn't even have to be one smooth motion. Just pull it down!

Charles Murphy78 said:First off, thanks for the help—I'm sure it'll work out once I actually figure out how to apply this formula you're giving me. Here is what I tried to do: My dates are in column A, starting from A2 and going from A2 to A2696—these are the ones from a hundred years ago—and then from A2702 to A2702 they look fine. I typed the formula into the cell right under the most recent date like this: =DATE(YEAR(A2:A2696)+100;MONTH(A2:A2696);DAY(A2:A2696))
But nothing happens, except that all the selected fields get outlined with a thin blue border and it tells me I've provided too many arguments in the formula. I suppose once you see my formula, you'll know exactly where I went wrong. I only started using Excel a few days ago, so I guess this is all still pretty foreign territory to me. Thanks, cheers...

Alright, let's take this very, very slowly. 🙂

- click on cell B1;

- Insert an empty column (Insert -> Columns)

- click on cell B2

- Type exactly like this =DATE(YEAR(A2)+100;MONTH(A2);DAY(A2)) and hit Enter

- click on B2 again (hitting Enter just drops you down to B3)

- notice the little square in the bottom right corner of the cell border; hover your cursor over that square (the cursor will change shape when you're over it) and "drag" (hold down the mouse button and pull downwards) the formula down as far as you need to go.

Now comes the part I already mentioned:

- select those "shifted" dates (that is, the range B2🙂2696) and Copy them.

- go to A2 and use Edit -> paste special -> Values

- delete that extra column B you added;

- head over to Ivanov's website and study, study, study... 🙂

Guys, it actually works! I feel like I finally stepped out of the Stone Age. I followed the steps exactly how Nicholas King laid them out, and it was a success. The only weird thing is the cell formatting—it’s totally different for this "new" section compared to the "old" part. Everything functions perfectly for all the data I migrated over from dBase, so I can easily tweak the column styles for the old stuff, but it won't let me touch the styling for this recent batch I've been doing in Excel. On top of that, if I try to sum one number from the "old" section and one from the "new" section, it fails. For example, using =SUM(I2696;I2697) just gives me whatever is in I2697, because it treats I2696 like a zero. If anyone has a clue what's going on, I'd really appreciate the help!

Charles Murphy78 said:On top of that—if I ask it to sum one number from the "old" section and one from the "new" section—it just won't work. For instance, if I try =SUM(I2696;I2697), the result is just the number sitting in I2697; it seems like it's treating I2696 as a zero. So, if anyone happens to have an idea about what might be causing this... I'd really appreciate it........

It's highly probable that Excel is seeing those "old" values as text rather than actual numbers—maybe check if they're left-aligned in the cell, whereas the "new" ones should be right-aligned?

Try doing this:

1. In any blank cell, enter the value 1.
2. Select the cell in which you typed 1 and click Copy on the Edit menu.
3. Select the cells with the values that you want to convert to numbers.
4. On the Edit menu, click paste special.
5. Under Operation, click Multiply. Under paste, click Values, and then click OK.

Nicholas King said:It would be helpful if you could send over those macros. 🙂

Sorry I haven't checked in lately. I managed to fix the issue (for now 😁), and this link below gave me plenty of material to dig deeper into.

Kyle Johnson2 said:You're being pretty vague here.
Since you have 6 Excel macros, once you specify exactly "what you're looking for" and "what you're changing," just think about how many combinations you've actually got.
Check out this link; it might help you with some VBA macros (there's a download included with instructions). It features two macros that define "exactly what to find"—like font type, size, color, shape, and so on—plus one macro that changes everything found under a certain condition (in this case, finding red text and changing it to blue).

- VBA Macro for Find and Replace in Word

Man, thank you so much for the link! This is a huge help. 🙏 👍

Nicholas King said:Excel probably thinks those "old" values are just text instead of actual numbers (check if they're left-aligned in the cell while the "new" ones are right-aligned?)

Try doing this:

When I imported that .dbf file from dBase into Excel, I didn't even realize it had already slapped a dark "Totals Row" in there, so I started typing data right on top of it. Now, it’s treating all those entries as text, so I can't run any calculations. You hit the nail on the head—they're all left-aligned, and that specific row won't recognize anything as a number, even though the rest of the rows (both old and new) work fine. I tried deleting the "Totals Row" to turn it back into a regular row, but nothing changes with the formatting; I can tweak colors and styles for the old data, but nothing works for the stuff underneath. It honestly feels like Excel is strictly separating the imported data from anything typed directly into the sheet. It's not a huge deal, but if there's a way to fix it, cool. Thanks a ton for the help!

Charles Murphy78 said:Look, it’s not the end of the world, but if there is a way to fix this—any way at all—then fine. Thanks a lot for the help.

You can't just change a data type by reformatting a cell in Excel. It doesn't work like that.

I provided you with that quote specifically to show how you convert text data into actual numbers.

I have been attempting to execute a specific task in Word 2010—though I’ve used the 2007 and 2003 versions in the past as well—but I am hitting a complete standstill; frankly, even after scouring the help files, I feel more confused than when I started.
There are two distinct features I am trying to implement:
1 - A tooltip—you know, that little text box that appears when you hover your mouse over an image or a block of text.
2 - A functional drop-down menu that offers a variety of different options to the user.

I actually ventured into the web tools palette and attempted to select the dropdown box, which does indeed generate a field, but for some reason, it remains completely unresponsive to any typing on my part.
Does anyone here happen to have any insight into how to resolve this?

Hi there, I'm currently putting together my senior thesis regarding the Microsoft Office suite; would anyone be kind enough to point me toward some reliable resources where I might dig up more in-depth information about it?
Thanks in advance!!!

Brian Rivera9 said:Hey, I'm working on my high school senior thesis about the Microsoft Office suite—could anyone point me toward some good resources where I can dig up more info on it?
Thanks in advance!!!

You have plenty of options right here.

restlessdrifter12 said:I'm trying to pull something off in Word 2010—though I've tried back in 2007 and 2003 as well—but I just can't seem to make it work,

Is there some sort of compelling reason why you're insisting on using Word for this?

I really don't think that's a wise move.

Nicholas King said:You have an overwhelming amount of stuff here.

I’ve been scouring the site, but I can't find much regarding Microsoft Office as a whole; it seems to be strictly categorized by specific versions—like 2007 or Word 2010—so, well...

Well, I suppose I have some experience—I’ve been working in Word for over ten years now, and I’ve even put together a few basic websites myself. My hope was that if he had exactly what I’m looking for, I wouldn't have to jump ship to entirely different software packages.
If it turns out he can't handle it, then I guess my only option is to bite the bullet and try something else entirely.
Actually, I just stumbled upon an old disc containing Adobe Dreamweaver CS4, so I might just give that a shot if I can make sense of the instructions.

restlessdrifter12 said:If he isn't able to do that...

Look, I never actually said he couldn't—it just seems like you're refusing to accept that he can. 🙂