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

Sophia Newman6 · 2009-10-13T20:10:30+00:00

Can someone please help me out here? I need to number pages in Word, but I want the numbering to actually start on the third page. Does anyone know how to pull…

Raymond Collins18 Member

10 messages
joined Oct 2011

#1241 · Nov 4, 2011

I need some help here! How do I set up a formula in a single data range so it always sums up the last ten cells? If I have a defined field from A1 down to A50, how can I make cell A51 automatically show the sum of the last ten values entered?

Henry Lewis37 Member

17 messages
joined Nov 2011

#1242 · Nov 4, 2011

Benjamin Wilson7 said:=IF(G27>B27;"BUDGET EXCEEDED";"") (-> this symbol isn't part of the formula)
- It should have been column F; I used G on purpose just to make you think a little. Don't take it personally. The formula works perfectly fine.
Take a page out of Walter Jackson48's book and piece together what you need.
If you have even a basic grasp of English, Excel has built-in help functions. Use them. There are examples for every single formula out there. Learning the logic behind the math is a steeper climb, but once it clicks, it stays with you forever.🙂 (Speaking from experience—it took quite a bit of grinding).
Best regards.

Thanks, everyone—to you and Walter Jackson48. I owe you one; I needed this as a template for an important project.

I actually figured most of it out immediately, though I still had to work on getting that red color formatting right. As long as it displays "Budget Exceeded," I'm good. Thanks again. 🙂

Henry Lewis37 Member

17 messages
joined Nov 2011

#1243 · Nov 4, 2011

@fooreest I gave it another shot and ran into the same error message. It’s telling me not to use an equals sign or a minus sign, or to avoid preceding it with a single quotation mark. Apparently, there’s a specific character they want, but all I see is a single dash. I can't quite wrap my head around what it's looking for, but frankly, it doesn't matter—I managed to get the task finished regardless.

Walter Jackson48 Active Member

234 messages
joined Feb 2010

#1244 · Nov 4, 2011

Raymond Collins18 said:I need some help here! How can I set up a command in a single data range so it always sums the last ten cells? If we have a defined field from A1 to A50, how do I make A51 always show the result of the last ten entered values?

Try putting this formula in A51:

=SUM(OFFSET(A1;MATCH(E1+306;A1:A50;1)-1;0);OFFSET(A1;MATCH(E1+306;A1:A50;1)-2;0);OFFSET(A1;MATCH(E1+306;A1:A50;1)-3;0);OFFSET(A1;MATCH(E1+306;A1:A50;1)-4;0)). This formula should sum the last four cells in column A, and you'll see the logic... you just keep going down to -10.

Walter Jackson48 Active Member

234 messages
joined Feb 2010

#1245 · Nov 4, 2011

Henry Lewis37 said:Well, thanks a lot, everyone...

I’m glad I could help you out, really, but I just can’t wrap my head around why you’re still insisting that Forest's corrected formula isn't working. It’s simple logic—you can’t just plug it into F27; it has to go in G27. Just a little more persistence here would go a long way...

Raymond Collins18 Member

10 messages
joined Oct 2011

#1246 · Nov 4, 2011

Walter Jackson48, thanks, but I really don't think this is working the way it's supposed to.
When you start plugging values into the cells, it sums up correctly through A3:A6, but once you hit A7, A8, and so on, the result just stays frozen regardless of what you type in!
What we actually need is a formula that can hunt down the very last non-zero cell, then use an OFFSET to look upwards from there—specifically targeting that last non-zero value plus nine cells above it. I've been banging my head against the keyboard trying to figure this out, but I'm getting nowhere.

Kyle Johnson2 Newcomer

1 message
joined Feb 2015

#1247 · Nov 5, 2011

Raymond Collins18 said:I need a formula that finds the last non-zero cell, then does an OFFSET upwards from there—specifically, that last non-zero value plus the 9 cells above it. I've tried everything, but nothing's working.

If you can just stop those zeros from showing up in column A (try using an IF statement), this formula should do the trick:
Code:

=SUM(INDEX(A:A;MATCH(9,99999999999999E+307;A:A;1)):INDEX(A:A;MATCH(9,99999999999999E+307;A:A;1)-9;0))

Walter Jackson48 Active Member

234 messages
joined Feb 2010

#1248 · Nov 5, 2011

Raymond Collins18 said:Walter Jackson48, thanks, but I don't think this is actually working right.

Look, there’s a chance you might still be running that first formula I sent over—the one where I used the range A1:A6 during my initial testing. I had to go back and tweak things later on to expand the scope to A1:A50. I just finished inputting some new values from A43 through A50, and sure enough, it's correctly summing up those last four numbers now.

Raymond Collins18 Member

10 messages
joined Oct 2011

#1249 · Nov 5, 2011

Walter Jackson48 and Kyle Johnson2, I really appreciate you guys. Both formulas work perfectly, though Kyle Johnson2, yours is definitely shorter and way easier to wrap my head around. Major props to both of you. Thanks again. Kyle Johnson2, I have a feeling you might actually remember what I’m using this formula for :-).
You gave me some advice earlier about that bowling results spreadsheet, telling me to stay away from using hidden columns. Well, thanks to this formula, those hidden columns aren't even an issue anymore.
Seriously, a huge THANK YOU to both of you!

Kimberly Campbell5 Newcomer

7 messages
joined Dec 2011

#1250 · Nov 7, 2011

I’ve got a school project where I need to build a standard data entry form. I think I know the basics since my professor walked us through it... the plan is to protect the document at the end so users can only type into specific designated columns. But here's my dilemma: I'm not sure how to format it so that when I'm typing in those columns, the text doesn't spill over into a new line depending on how much info I enter. I hope that makes sense!

Kyle Johnson2 Newcomer

1 message
joined Feb 2015

#1251 · Nov 7, 2011

Arthur Ramirez20 said:I've got no clue how to fix this—whenever I type stuff into those columns, the text just spills over into a new line depending on how much data I'm dumping in. How do I stop that?

Every single "text Form Field" has its own character limit. How do you cap the number of specific characters? What can I actually put in a text Form Field?
If you just drop a text Form Field from those Legacy Forms toolbars, it’s not gonna stop someone from hitting ENTER and completely wrecking your layout. It's a mess waiting to happen. If you want to actually keep things under control, you gotta wrap that field inside a table and lock down the cell constraints. That's the only way to keep people from breaking your form.

Gregory Campbell75 Newcomer

7 messages
joined Sep 2007

#1252 · Nov 9, 2011

Is there a way to make a number line in Word, and if so, how?

I need to build a number line up to 100, split into three sections... actually, whatever, that’s not even the main point. The big thing is I need to be able to stack little vertical tick marks along a horizontal line. You know the drill, you've seen what a number line looks like.

THANKS

cosmicbison19 Member

26 messages
joined Mar 2011

#1253 · Nov 9, 2011

Hey everyone... I had a quick question for the group...

So, suppose we’re working with a pivot chart—specifically a bar chart—that's displaying certain values
where the axis scale goes up to, say, 100
and you have some bars that are taller than others, and I was wondering if there's a way to tell Excel to automatically color all the bars above 50 red, while making everything under 50 blue.

Kyle Johnson2 Newcomer

1 message
joined Feb 2015

#1254 · Nov 9, 2011

cosmicbison19 said:Some columns are bigger, some are smaller... so what if we set a rule where anything over, say, 50 turns red, and everything under 50 turns blue?

You can actually have a PivotTable refresh itself just like a chart does. If you want to get fancy and color-code things based on the raw data values, you're gonna need some VBA. Check out this link for an example.

rustyheron55 Newcomer

3 messages
joined Aug 2012

#1255 · Nov 10, 2011

Hey guys, quick question—how the heck do I flip a table from landscape to portrait mode (or vice versa) in Word? Like, how do I transpose the whole thing without losing my mind??

Olivia Phillips2 Newcomer

2 messages
joined Nov 2009

#1256 · Nov 10, 2011

rustyheron55 said:How do I flip a table from horizontal to vertical in Word, or vice versa??

Rotating and flipping tables in Microsoft Office

Creating and rotating tables in Microsoft Office

Larry Peterson30 Newcomer

5 messages
joined May 2009

#1257 · Nov 10, 2011

Hi everyone.
I’m looking for some advice on using Advanced Filters in Excel, or maybe even just a clever workaround if one exists.

Here’s the situation:
I’ve got this massive master table. The first column contains product codes, and the second column lists the descriptions. The catch is that I have several identical descriptions paired with different product codes. To manage this, I’ve put together a smaller secondary table containing a specific list of product codes I actually care about. Now, I need to apply a filter to that first column in my main table—using those codes—but I want to filter by the entire list from my small table all at once. It’s only about 15 different codes, but doing it manually is a pain.

Alright, Excel wizards, please save me! 🙂

Benjamin Wilson7 Member

15 messages
joined Oct 2008

#1258 · Nov 10, 2011

I can't believe I'm actually doing this... just putting myself out there. Is it weird to share? Maybe. But here we go! says:
Hey there! How's it going?

So, I've got this massive spreadsheet where the first column is packed with product codes and the second one holds all the product descriptions.
Is it just me, or is this happening in my spreadsheet too? It keeps popping up right there in the table... So, I’ve been seeing this pop up quite a bit lately: multiple product descriptions that are identical, yet they all have different SKU codes. It’s one of those things that looks simple on the surface but can actually be a massive headache if you don't handle it right. Why does this happen? Is it just bad data entry, or is there a deeper logic to it?That's why I also have this smaller table set aside, just containing my selected product codes.

Wait, where exactly are these duplicate descriptions popping up? Are we talking about the second column, or is this happening further down in columns C, D, and so on?

Larry Peterson30 said:Now what? I need to get a filter working in this massive spreadsheet—specifically for that first column with all the ID codes. Any tips? What if you just used more codes at once? I mean, why not just set the entire small table as your criteria? It’s only about 15 codes total, right? Might be easier that way!

If the descriptions match but the IDs are different, what’s actually the issue? Why not just use the dropdown menu in the filter settings? You can just check off those 15 specific codes you're looking for. Just go to Data > Filter on your header row, hit that first column, and select those 15 codes. Easy, right?

I'm sorry, I'm finding this a little hard to follow. Or maybe it’s just me?

Walter Jackson48 Active Member

234 messages
joined Feb 2010

#1259 · Nov 10, 2011

I don't even know where to begin with this one. It’s just... it's a lot. I was sitting here, staring at my monitor, trying to make sense of some data, and I realized how much time we waste on things that shouldn't even be complicated in the first place. You know what I mean? It’s like when you’re driving down a highway in Chicago and suddenly someone decides to merge without looking—just total chaos for no reason. That's what most of these discussions feel like lately. Just aimless. Anyway, I'm here. I'm around. Let's see if we can actually get something useful out of this. [User Name] says:
So, I was staring at my screen for way too long this morning—probably should have grabbed another coffee before diving into this mess—and I realized I’ve been wrestling with a formatting nightmare in Microsoft Word. It’s one of those things that feels like it should be simple, right? Just a click and you're done. But no. Life isn't that easy. I'm trying to figure out how to flip a table on its head—you know, taking it from landscape orientation to portrait, or vice versa. Basically, transposing the whole thing. If you're stuck in that same loop of frustration, here’s the deal. Word doesn't actually have a "transpose" button built directly into the table tools like Microsoft Excel does. Yeah, I know. It’s infuriating. You'd think after all these years of software development, they'd add a single button for this, but apparently not. The workaround—and honestly, the only sane way to do it without losing your mind—is to play a little game of musical chairs with Microsoft Excel. Here is what you do: First, highlight your entire table in Word and just copy it. Simple enough. Then, open up a blank Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Paste your data there. Once it's sitting in the cells, select the range again and hit copy. Now, this is the crucial part: don't just paste it back. Go to a new spot in the spreadsheet, right-click, and look for the "Paste Special" options. You're looking for the icon that says "Transpose." Click that, and boom—your rows are now columns and your columns are rows. Once it looks the way you want in Excel, just copy that newly flipped table and paste it right back into your Word document. It’s a bit of a dance, a bit of a hassle, and frankly, a waste of perfectly good keystrokes, but it works. It beats trying to manually move every single cell one by one. I tried doing it manually once back when I was working on a massive report for a client in Chicago, and let me tell you, I nearly threw my laptop out the window. Don't be like me. Use the Excel trick.

So, here’s how you flip it from vertical to horizontal:

Alright, so here’s how you get started. First, just open up a blank Microsoft Word document. Once that's sitting there on your screen, go ahead and use the Drawing tool to sketch out a text box. Once you've got that box placed where you want it, just right-click right inside the frame, and then select Add text. That's really all there is to it for this step.
So, here’s the thing. You want to flip that table into a horizontal layout? Fine. First, you grab the table you’re working with and just copy the whole thing. Then, you open up a fresh, empty spreadsheet—just a blank canvas, really—click right into the area where you want it to go, and hit Paste. Now, pay attention, because this is where people usually trip up and lose their minds. Once it's pasted, you need to right-click on that frame, head into "format AutoShape...", then navigate over to "color and Lines." From there, you’re going to hunt down the white color option and hit OK. That’s the trick. That’s how you hide the frame entirely. It’s a bit of a workaround, I know, but sometimes you just have to bend things to your will to get the result you actually want.
Right-click on the border again, then hit Paste. Simple enough, right? Or at least, that’s what they tell you in those overly polished tutorials that never seem to account for how temperamental this software actually is. Honestly, sometimes I feel like I spend more time fighting with the interface than actually getting any real work done. Just click the border, right-click, paste. Don't overthink it.
Alright, let's get things moving. First thing you need to do is open up a completely fresh spreadsheet. Once that's up, go ahead and flip the orientation to landscape. I usually set my margins to about 0.4 inches—just enough breathing room, you know? Set that, hit OK, and we’re ready to roll.
So, I was looking at this new spreadsheet earlier—just one of those things where you think you've got a handle on the workflow, right? Anyway, here’s the drill if you want to get it right: You hit Edit, then go ahead and do a Paste Special, select the Picture (GIF), and just click OK. Simple enough, I guess. Or so they tell you.
So, here’s how you handle it. You take your cursor and hover it right over that little green circle sitting just above the frame. Once you hit it, the icon should flip into this circular arrow. Give it a left-click and just rotate it ninety degrees to the left. Boom—there’s your table, rotated. It might need a tiny bit of extra tweaking to get everything looking perfect, but once you dial that in, you're done. Simple enough, right? Even if it feels like these programs make the simplest tasks feel like a chore sometimes.

slyskipper95 Newcomer

1 message
joined Jul 2012

#1260 · Nov 11, 2011

Hello, I am interested in knowing whether it is possible to utilize a custom image, such as one in JPEG format, instead of the standard design templates provided within Microsoft PowerPoint. If so, could you please explain the procedure for doing this? Thank you.

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

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