CHIPS Articles: How Can I?, April-June 2001

Thanks to the following instructors for their input: Dawn Adams, Alice Butler, Greg Browning, Dale A. Davis, Marie Edmonds, Glenn Krell, and Donald Luckey.

Microsoft Office 2000

QUESTION: I've installed Service Pack 2 for Office 2000. Why can I no longer open any executable files sent as attachments?

ANSWER: An Outlook Security patch causes this behavior. Microsoft designed the patch to protect you from opening attachments that could contain a virus. This "feature" is included in Microsoft Office Service Pack 2 (SP2). Unfortunately, you can't turn the feature off or uninstall it. The only alternative around this is to uninstall Office 2000 and reinstall it without SP2. Another alternative is you can ask for executable files to be sent as a zip file.

Microsoft Outlook

QUESTION: I belong to an organization that has thousands of names on the Global Address List, so I have made a smaller Contacts Address Book. When names are selected, for example, "Marie", I am getting the first Marie from the Global list and not the Marie from my Contacts List. That means I have to click on the "TO" each time to select from the Contacts. It's driving me crazy!

ANSWER: Relax! Open your Address Book and go to the menu choice "Tools/Options..." In the list to check names, put your Contacts at the top.

QUESTION: Are there differences between Outlook 98 and Outlook 2000 when requesting delivery receipts?

ANSWER: Concerning the issue of tracking receipts not working in Outlook 98, the steps are identical for both Outlook 2000 and Outlook 98 unless you are using the Express version. For Outlook 98/2000 the instructions given in the Winter 2001 issue of CHIPS magazine are correct for setting up the program to track a message sent. Using the View menu etc., is for just for one message being written and then sent. I can see where the instructions may not have been clear using the Tools menu, etc., from the Outlook window (not from within a message window). Using this method would set Outlook to track delivery/read receipts for all messages sent.

If you are using Outlook Express, you must open the Tools menu from the Outlook window, select Options, then select the Read tab, select the receipt you wish to receive and select OK. This will select for all messages sent. To request a receipt for just one message, with the message window open, select the Tools menu and select Request Read Receipt. Note: Not all Internet Service Providers provide for delivery and receipts.

Microsoft Word 2000

QUESTION: I am working in Word 2000. How do I get my document to begin with a page number other than 1?

ANSWER: From your Word document, open the Insert menu, choose Page Numbers, and the Format button will be located on the right bottom corner of the Page Numbers box. Click the Format button and enter the desired beginning page number in the "Start at" box. An alternative method is to choose the View menu from the top of your document and then choose Header and Footer. Insert the page number in the footer area outlined at the bottom of the screen. In order to format it, use the Header and Footer toolbar that has appeared in the middle of the screen. The fourth button from the left (a piece of paper with a pointing hand) will open the Page Number Format screen. On the Page Number Format screen, you will be able to insert the beginning Page Number.

Microsoft Excel

QUESTION: My Column of numbers is formatted "General" and will not show leading zeros. How do I get all six digits to show?

ANSWER: Select the column and right click to "Format Cells". The Format Cells box will appear. Choose the Number tab and from the Category panel, select Custom. In the Type slot, type "000000," the number of digits you wish to show. A six digit number of "000123" will now be displayed for "123."

QUESTION: I want an Excel cell to always be dated for the coming Saturday. This is in an electronic timecard that is submitted weekly. How do I do this so that I won't have to always look up the date each time and manually enter it?

ANSWER: Enter the following in the cell where you wish the date to appear:

=TODAY()+(7-WEEKDAY(TODAY(),1))

This function takes today's date and subtracts the day of the week from Saturday (7) and then adds the remaining days to today!

QUESTION: I have a timecard that is filled in each week. The last workday of each payday is Saturday. How do I automate the placement of that date in my timecard and prevent it from being changed automatically when my boss opens it?

ANSWER: Put the expression you see below in an empty cell (column) to the right of the date cell you plan to use (for example, M2).

=TODAY()+(7-WEEKDAY(TODAY(),1))

This will calculate the upcoming Saturday. The value in this newly created cell (M2) will update each time you open the workbook. The next task will be to put the resulting value in the actual date cell that you plan to use (for example, L2).

Next, create the macro to place the value in M2 into L2 and not have it change when the boss opens it next week.

Record a macro (here named SetValue) that will move to M2, copy, move to L2 and Edit/Paste the value.

Sub SetValue()

SetValue Macro

Macro recorded 3/7/2001 by Alice F. Butler

Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl+s

Range("M2").Select

Selection.Copy

Range("L2").Select

Selection:PastSpecial Paste:=x|Values,Operation:=|None,Skipblanks:=False,Transpose:=False

Application.CutCopyMode = False

Selection.NumberFormat="mm/dd/yy"

End Sub

Next use the Forms Toolbar to create a button on the worksheet. The button's click event here will trigger the macro to change L2. Now, when you wish to put a new date into L2 for the coming Saturday, you will click on the button. When your boss reads the file at a later date, it will not change.