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

You really timed that perfectly right after I passed out. 🙂

Benjamin Wilson7 said:Real smooth, showing up right after my disaster. 🙂

We were typing at the same time, I was just a few seconds behind.
If I'd seen your post, I wouldn't have become 😉

Man, yours isn't working on my end.

edit: Okay, it works—I totally missed Sheet2.

Thanks for the quick replies 🙂

The title might be a bit silly, but I honestly wasn't sure how else to frame my dilemma!
I’m currently in the middle of grinding through my senior thesis, and I've hit a bit of a snag.
I need to document various professional software programs—basically explaining how to navigate them and what everything does. To give you an idea of what I mean: I open a program, take a screenshot of the interface using the print screen key, and then I need to bring that image into some kind of editor to annotate it. I want to describe what's happening in the shot, like "this icon starts a new project" or "this one selects specific materials," and have those descriptions sit next to the image in little callout bubbles pointing directly at the icons...
Hopefully, that makes sense to someone out there!
Since I'm drafting the whole thesis in Microsoft Word, I'll eventually need to move all these annotated images over into the document.
I wasn't quite sure which sub-forum this belonged in, so if the moderator could just move this to the right spot if I'm out of line, I'd appreciate it!

Just paste the image into Microsoft Word; you can add shapes, lines, connectors, callouts—whatever you need to get the job done. Just make sure to turn on the Drawing toolbar under the View -> Toolbars menu. Does it really have to be Word, though? Why not try some open-source software instead?

Jack Hayes said:Just drop the image into Microsoft Word; you can add shapes, lines, connectors, callouts—whatever you need right there. Just make sure to enable the Drawing toolbar under the View menu. But does it really have to be Word? Why not try some open-source software?

Thanks for the reply! My thesis needs to be finalized in Microsoft Word, so as long as the image editor can handle what I described in my last post, I don't care which one I use. I'll give the Word method a shot and let you know how it turns out... 🙂

Samuel Palmer8 said:Your thesis needs to be a final version in Microsoft Word, but for image editing, you can pretty much use whatever

If you were talking about image edits like the one shown below

You can knock that out in MS Paint, GIMP, PaintShop Pro, Photoshop, etc...

Samuel Palmer8 said:I suppose I’ll try to pull this off in Microsoft Word using an image—once I see if it actually works, I'll let you know the results. 🙂

Don't do it. Trust me—you really don't want to go down that road. 🙂.

Honestly, any raster graphics program can handle a task like this—even MS Paint could pull it off if you don't mind lacking predefined shapes. But, I guess it’s just much smarter, more efficient, and frankly easier to just grab the basics of a real tool and get the job done right there.

No, I really wouldn't recommend using Paint—trust me on this one, you definitely don't want to go down that road. 🙂.

Nicholas King said:Don't. Trust me, you really don't want to go down that road 🙂.

Any raster graphics software can handle it—it's a massive headache, and honestly, even MS Paint could pull it off (except it lacks preset shapes). It would be much smarter, more efficient, and significantly easier to just pick up the basics of a proper tool and get it done there...

No, I am definitely not recommending Paint—believe me, that’s not something you want to deal with either 🙂.

I tried messing around with something in Microsoft Word, but I didn't get anywhere!
I'm trying to create something similar to the image Kyle Johnson2 posted.
I have a feeling the quality is going to tank once I try moving it from Paint over to Microsoft Word, so that probably isn't the best way to go about it...
Here is an example of what I'm looking to describe: (hopefully I set up the 🙂
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/849/primjer.jpg/

So, in the end, which program do you guys recommend? And obviously, it needs to be something I can just download for free online.
THANKS 🙂

Samuel Palmer8 said:So, what's the final verdict? Which program am I actually supposed to use? And obviously, it’s gotta be something I can just grab online without any hassle.
Thanks. 🙂

Give it a shot. GIMP For Win detail
Check out the details. HERE

Quick question about Excel
So I've got a few columns filled with numbers... and then I have another set of columns where those values are aggregated using SUM and COUNT formulas
The thing is, I need to sort these resulting totals from largest to smallest... but since those cells are actually sums based on other formulas rather than just raw data, Excel won't let me sort them like regular numbers or values
How the hell am I supposed to pull this off?

crimsonraven6 said:just a quick little question regarding Excel

It’s basically the same old routine, just switch over to summing up the column. Go into Data, then Sort, hit Sort again, click on Options, and make sure you check that "Sort top to bottom" box. Then you just tell the program which specific column you want to sum up.

I could really use some help here! So, I’ve been working on this database to track all my income and expenses—it basically tracks the date, the deposit, the withdrawal, and the purpose of the transaction—and I have specific fields set up to total up the deposits and the withdrawals. What I'm trying to figure out is how to make it so that once we hit the end of the year on December 31st, the system automatically closes out the current balance and carries everything over into the new year starting from zero. Does anyone know the best way to handle that transition? Thanks!

Walter Jackson48 said:It’s basically the same old thing, just switch over to summing in the column (Data, Sort ; Options and check the box for Sort to bottom then pick which column you want to sum up.

Nah, that won't work,
they just aren't sorting them right in the first place...

crimsonraven6 said:No, it just won't work, man.

Look, if I have numbers in columns A and B and their total is sitting right there in Column C—it works for me. (And honestly, excuse my previous mess-up; instead of saying "adding" or "to add," I really meant "sorting" and "to sort." My brain was elsewhere. Anyway, let’s try this again, schoolbook style:) Select Column C (the sum), then go to Data, then Sort, make sure you check the box next to Expand..., hit Sort ; Options, ensure the First key sort order is set to Normal, check the box for Sort to bottom, click OK, and then in the Sort by field, select Column C and hit OK. That should do the trick.

So he’s sorting names next to those numbers... but the numbers just stay stuck where they were

Basically, it looked like this

Ana 1
John 3
Jerry 2

And now, he sorts them perfectly fine, but it ends up looking like this

John 1
Jerry 3
Ana 2

Instead of

John 3
Jerry 2
Ana 1

crimsonraven6 said:he's just lining up the names next to those numbers

Let’s give this another shot, shall we?
Look, if you've got names sitting in Column A and then their corresponding totals or sums over in Column D, you can't just pick one and hope for the best—that's how you end up with a complete mess. You have to sort both columns in unison. What you need to do is select the entire table first—don't skip that part, seriously—then go into the Sort menu. Set your primary sort to Column D, and then under the "Then by" option, select Column A. It’s not rocket science, but if you don't grab the whole range, everything falls apart.

Look, I tried selecting both columns, obviously...
It’s not like I haven’t sorted stuff before 😁
But this sorting thing is driving me absolutely insane because the numbers are just sums of other values instead of being manually entered... so it never sorts correctly for me.
I seriously have no clue where the hell the issue is... it always sorts the names in the first column, but the numbers in the second column just stay exactly where they were.

There’s a reason people keep telling you to SELECT ALL DATA.
It isn’t just about the specific cells you want to rearrange; it’s about the underlying data those formulas rely on.

Think about it: if you have names in Column A and generated values in Column B created via formulas, you aren't actually going to get a meaningful sort if the content of those Column B cells remains static regardless of how you move things around.

That’s why you need to select the source cells as well as the results before hitting sort—that "select the whole table" advice exists for a reason.

If you only highlight A and B, the sort won't behave the way you expect. If you highlight every single column involved in the calculation, it works perfectly. I tested this with a basic example; maybe I missed a nuance somewhere, but I'm fairly certain that's the logic.

If that still doesn't fix it, you're going to have to upload the spreadsheet somewhere. Trying to troubleshoot this purely from memory is a losing game if this suggestion doesn't clear things up.😉

Edit: There is an alternative approach, though it's more of a manual workaround. You could just do a copy + Paste Special and paste only the values. Of course, then you're left with nothing but raw numbers, and you lose all that nice automation.😉