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McCombs Office Solutions and Tips

Back Your Files Up

Posted by  on Friday, May 11th 2012     

A sheepish look comes across the faces of a lot of people I talk to when I ask if they’re backing up their files. A lot of people know that they should be backing up their files, they’re just not sure what that means. So here are answers to the most common questions about backing up files.

What is backing up?

Backing a file up means saving a copy of a file to another physical location. That way if something happens to your computer–a hard drive crash, a fire, a puppy with a small bladder–you have another copy of your file somewhere else. Saving a copy to another folder on your computer does not count as another physical location.

What files should I back up?

Anything you don’t want to lose. The report you’ve been slaving over for weeks. Yes. Pictures of your daughter’s second birthday? Absolutely. Your entire music collection? You bet. Writing the great American novel? Back that puppy up!

Where should I back up?

This question is a bit trickier. You can back up to a physical location you keep in your home or office. A few examples are:

  • External hard drive – this is a larger initial investment, but they can hold much more data than a CD or DVD.
  • CD/DVD – keep in mind, these can easily be lost or corrupted (You know how annoying it is when your favorite DVD skips because it’s scratched? What if that happens to your files?)
  • USB drive/thumb drive – these can also easily be lost or corrupted

The problem with backing your files up to physical location in your home or office is that if a flood, fire, tornado, or thief, wipes out/runs off with your computer, it’s likely that they’ll also destroy/steal your backup location.

You can also back your files up to online resources. If you’re backing up work files, check with your IT department to make sure that the location is acceptable.  

Services that will sync selected files with an online location:

  • Dropbox*
  • Google Docs*
  • Microsoft Skydrive*
  • Apple iCloud*

Services that will back up your entire computer:

  • Carbonite*
  • Crashplan*
  • Mozy*

* If you work at The University of Texas, these are not acceptable places to back up your work documents. Read the UT section at the bottom for a great, secure location.

Keep in mind that if you back up online, you won’t be able to get to your files without an internet connection. Also, your important files could be compromised if the company’s servers are compromised. How would you feel if someone else got hold of your files? You should research how your files are protected and backed up if you choose an online file syncing or back up service.

How often should I back up?

This depends on how far behind you can afford to get. If you lost all the data on your computer today, would you be okay with your backed up files being versions from two weeks ago? Some people choose to back up daily or weekly. Other people choose to back up each time they finish working on a file. For example, each time you save and close an important spreadsheet, you can quickly save it to your backup location.  If you have already backed up a file, and you haven’t touched it in months or years, there is no need to back it up regularly. Just back it up if you change it again.

Does my organization do this for me?

Maybe. Some organizations have automatic back up systems in place. Others rely on their employees to back up their own files. If you don’t know what your organization does, ask someone in your IT department. If you work at The University of Texas at Austin, read the section at the bottom.

Are there any services out there to make this easier?

Yes, there are programs you can use that will sync your files for you, and there are companies that will automatically back up your computer for you through an internet connection (mentioned above). Do your research before choosing to use one of these. Make sure they are a reputable company (or piece of software) and check how your files are protected and backed up.

Do you work at The University of Texas at Austin?

UT has a great service called UTBackup that will back up your files for you. To learn more about it, go to www.mccombs.utexas.edu/tech/help and use the search term UTbackup.

category: General, Self Support
tags: ,

Sort by Last Name When the Cell Contains the Full Name

Posted by  on Friday, May 4th 2012     

Generally, when someone asks how to sort by last name in a cell that contains both first and last name, I advise people to use the Text to Columns feature, but I’ve always wondered if there was another option. Today I found this video about how using the replace feature can isolate the last name in a separate column, making it easy to sort.

Before you watch the video, here are a couple of things to note:

1.  This video is in a pre-2007 version of Excel. The Sort and Replace tools in 2007 and 2010 are on the right side of the Home tab on the ribbon. Everything else works the same.

2.  This method assumes that you do not have any Jr’s or III’s or PhD’s tacked on to the end of your names. If you might, you should scan the Sort Name column afterward to check for these and correct them as needed, or do a Replace for the common ones and replace them with nothing.

Here’s a link to the post and video:

Sort by last name in a column that contains the full name.

category: Excel
tags: , , , ,

Line Numbering in Microsoft Word

Posted by  on Thursday, April 26th 2012     

 

When you’re editing a document or having a document edited by someone else, it’s often useful to know the number of the line of text on the page. For example, if a co-worker says you have a typo in the third line of your doc, that’s easy to find. But if they say you have a typo on the twenty-third line of your document, you’re stuck counting down twenty-three lines with a pretty good chance (at least if you’re me) that you’ll miscount. That’s where line numbering in Word comes into play.

In Word, the line numbering feature will add a column in the left margin that tells you the number of each line of text. This can be customized so that you only see the line number for every fifth or tenth or X line of text. It can also number through the whole document, or restart with one at the top of every page, or at every section break.

Turn On Line Numbering in Word 2007 & 2010

To see line numbers, you’ll need to be in either Print Layout or Full Screen Reading view. To switch to these views, go to the View tab and click on the Print Layout or Full Screen Reading button.

  1. Go to the Page Layout tab.
  2. In the Page Setup section, click the Line Numbers button.
  3. In the menu that pops down, select the type of numbering you would like.
    Continuous – will number the lines continuously throughout the document
    Restart Each Page – will restart at 1 at the top of each page of the document
    Restart Each Section – will restart at 1 at the beginning of each section
    None – turns off line numbering

Turn Off Line Numbering for a Specific Paragraph in Word 2007 & 2010

This will not only turn off the numbers displayed for that specific paragraph, it will keep the paragraph from being included in the total line count.

  1. Select the paragraph or paragraphs. (Use the Ctrl key to select non-adjacent paragraphs.)
  2. Go to the Page Layout tab.
  3. In the Page Setup section, click the Line Numbers button.
  4. In the menu that pops down, select Suppress for Current Paragraph.

Number on an Interval in Word 2007 & 2010

 

  1. Go to the Page Layout tab.
  2. In the Page Setup section, click the Line Numbers button.
  3. In the menu that pops down, select Line Numbering Options.
  4. Click the Line Numbering button at the bottom of the window that opens.
  5. In the Count by box, enter the interval you would like to count by. (If you want to count by fives, enter 5.)
  6. Click OK. Click OK again.

Note:  The Start at box in the Line Number Options dialog box will determine the number of the first line of text. Leave it at 1 unless you want the first line of text to have another number.

 

category: Word
tags: , , ,

The F8 Shortcut in Excel

Posted by  on Wednesday, April 18th 2012     

Keyboard shortcuts are a fantastic way to save time. But when you accidentally hit a keyboard shortcut you didn’t know existed, they can be infuriating.

More than once, I’ve run into someone for whom Excel seemed to be going haywire. Any time they used the arrow keys in Excel, cells would be selected. Any time they clicked on a worksheet with the mouse, all the cells between the active cell and the cell they clicked on would be selected.

To be honest, this baffled me at first, and I usually suggested a reboot to solve the problem. But it turns out, this is called Extend Mode, and the F8 key turns it on and off, allowing you to use only a single mouse click or your arrow keys to select cells.

So if you’re experiencing the same problem, just press F8 on your keyboard to turn off Extend Mode.

F8 Keyboard Shortcuts in Excel

  • F8 – select cells with only a single mouse click or only the arrow keys
  • Shift + F8 – add a non-adjacent cell to your selection
  • Alt + F8 – opens the Macro dialog box
category: Excel, Keyboard Shortcuts, Self Support
tags: , , , ,

Change Worksheet Tab Size in Excel

Posted by  on Friday, April 13th 2012     

Sometimes I feel like the text on the worksheet tabs at the bottom of Excel is on the small side. Today I picked up a great tip from OfficeUsers.org, that tells you how you can increase the size of these tabs by increasing the size of your side and bottom scrollbars.

When you increase the scrollbar size, the size increases not just in Excel, but in every program you use. If you try increasing the size and don’t like it, don’t worry, you can always follow the same process and decrease the scrollbar size (17 is the default).

Increase Worksheet Tab Size by Increasing Scroll Bar Size

Windows 7

  1. Right click on your desktop and select Personalize.
  2. Click on Window Color (at the bottom of the screen).
  3. Click Advanced appearance settings.
  4. In the Item drop down box, choose Scrollbar.
  5. Set the Size box to a larger number. (I found 22 to be a nice size.)
  6. Click OK.

Windows XP

  1. Go to the Start Menu and select Control Panel.
  2. Double click Display and go to the Appearance tab.
  3. Click the Advanced button.
  4. In the Item drop down box, choose Scrollbar.
  5. Set the Size box to a larger number. (I found 22 to be a nice size.)
  6. Click OK.

Windows Vista

  1. Right click on your desktop and select Personalize.
  2. Click on Window Color and click Advanced appearance settings.
  3. In the Item drop down box, choose Scrollbar.
  4. Set the Size box to a larger number. (I found 22 to be a nice size.)
  5. Click OK.
category: Excel, Windows
tags: , , ,
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