FastTips for Microsoft Excel 4.0: Usage Q&A

Summary:

             Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh, Version 4.0
               Automated Product Support Service Fax-Script
                       Questions and Answers: Usage
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1. Q. Can I change Microsoft Excel 4.0's new tool bars to better match
      the way I work with the program?

   A. Microsoft Excel 4.0 has many new tool bars beyond the Standard
      tool bar. You may want to customize these tool bars to improve
      the way you work with Excel. Excel gives you the ability to
      modify the built-in tool bars, or to create your own custom tool
      bars.

      To modify the built-in tool bars, follow these four steps:

      a. Choose Toolbars from the Options menu.

      b. If the tool bar is not already visible, click the tool bar
         name that you want to modify, and then click the Show button.
         You must then re-choose Toolbars from the Options menu.

      c. Click the Customize button.

      d. You may drag any of the tools shown in the box on the right
         to the tool bar of your choice. Different tools are displayed
         by selecting different categories on the left side of the
         dialog box. If you are uncertain of the function of a
         particular tool, click the tool once and Excel will display a
         brief message of its function in the lower-left corner of the
         dialog box.

      To create your own tool bar, in addition to Excel's default tool
      bars, perform the following five steps:

      a. Choose Toolbars from the Options menu.

      b. In the Toolbars dialog box, click in the box in the
         lower-left corner underneath the words "Toolbar Name."

      c. Delete the name that appears there and type the name that you
         want your tool bar to have.

      d. Click the Add button and Excel 4.0 will create your tool bar
         in the upper-left corner of your screen. Excel will then
         automatically take you into the Toolbar Customize dialog box.

      e. You may now choose any tool category listed on the left side
         of the dialog box, and drag any of the associated button
         icons to your newly created tool bar.

      For more information, see Book 2, Chapter 4 of the "Microsoft
      Excel User's Guide."

2. Q. What can Microsoft Excel 4.0's Crosstab ReportWizard do for me,
      and how do I use it?

   A. Microsoft Excel 4.0 includes a new Crosstab ReportWizard. This
      tool allows you to summarize, analyze, and compare selected
      database information.

      To create a new Crosstab table, follow these 11 steps:

      a. Open a worksheet that contains a database you want to
         tabulate.

      b. If you have not already done so, select the database range on
         your worksheet, and choose the Set Database command from the
         Data menu.

      c. From the Data menu, choose Crosstab. Excel 4.0 will bring up
         the first window of the Crosstab ReportWizard.

      d. Click the button labeled "Create a New Crosstab."

      e. Excel will display the next dialog box, showing the fields
         included in your database. Choose the field that you want to
         see down the left side of the Crosstab table, and click the
         Add button.

      f. Click the Next button, and Excel 4.0 will take you to the
         next dialog box.

      g. Excel will again display the list of fields in your database;
         select the field you want to see across the top of the
         Crosstab table. After selecting the field name, click the Add
         button.

      h. Click the Next button, and Excel will take you to the next
         dialog box.

      i. From the list of fields in your database, select the field
         you want to summarize. If you do not select any field name,
         Excel will count the number of instances that the particular
         record is found in the database.

      j. Click the Next button, and Excel will take you to the next
         dialog box.

      k. The Crosstab ReportWizard will summarize your selections on
         the left side of the dialog box. If they are correct, click
         the Create It button, and the Crosstab ReportWizard will
         create your table in a new worksheet.

      If you have a question at any point during the selection of
      options, you may click the Explain button in the lower-left
      corner of the dialog box. This will display on the left side of
      the dialog box a brief explanation of what Excel is expecting.

      During the selection of options, you must select at least two
      categories to summarize. In other words, you may select a row
      category and a value category, but leave the column category
      blank. Or, you may select a row category and a column category,
      but leave the value category blank.

      To modify or recalculate a Crosstab table that you have already
      created, activate the worksheet that contains the table by
      selecting the worksheet name from the Window menu. From the Data
      menu, choose Crosstab. Excel will give you the option to modify
      or recalculate the existing Crosstab. Click Recalculate Current
      Crosstab if your database has changed, or click Modify Current
      Crosstab if you want to change any options used in the current
      table.

3. Q. Microsoft Product Support technicians often ask what version of
      Excel or the Macintosh operating system that I am running. How
      can I easily find this information?

   A. Microsoft has included a special add-in with Excel 4.0 called
      Checkup. This tool will tell you much of the information that
      our technicians will ask you for, or that other support
      technicians for some of your other Windows products might ask
      about. To run the Checkup add-in, follow these four steps:

      a. From the File menu, choose Open.

      b. Change to your Microsoft Excel 4.0 folder, and you will see
         several subfolders listed.

      c. Change to the Macro Library folder.

      d. Open the file called Checkup. Excel will automatically
         display a dialog box listing the pertinent information about
         your machine. You may print this by clicking the Print
         button; otherwise, click the Close button, and the Checkup
         dialog box and add-in will close.

4. Q. How do I share Excel files between my Macintosh and my PC running
      Excel for Windows?

   A. Excel for the Macintosh 4.0 and Excel for Windows 4.0 share the
      same file format, so translation of the files is not necessary
      between the two platforms. The remaining step is getting the
      file from one platform to the other. There are many ways to move
      files between the Macintosh platform and the PC platform. The
      following steps outline the most common method.

      To transfer files from the Macintosh to the PC, follow these
      three steps:

      a. Start the program called Apple File Exchange. This
         application comes with the Macintosh. If this program is not
         on your hard drive, then you will find it on one of the
         Utilities disks that came with your Macintosh (not the disks
         that came with Excel for the Macintosh.)

      b. After starting the Apple File Exchange program, place a PC-
         formatted disk into your Macintosh and copy the Excel file
         onto the floppy disk.

      c. Eject the disk by clicking the Eject button at the bottom of
         the window; you are now ready to read the file into Excel for
         Windows.

      The method for transferring files from the PC to your Macintosh
      is exactly the same as going from the Macintosh to the PC,
      except that you copy the file from your floppy disk to your hard
      drive, rather than from your hard drive to a floppy disk.
      Remember that for the Macintosh to read an MS-DOS disk, you must
      be running the Apple File Exchange program. For more information
      on this application, see the manuals that came with your
      Macintosh, or contact your authorized Apple dealer.

5. Q. When I import a text file containing ZIP Codes, the ZIP Codes
      that begin with a zero no longer have the leading zero. Also,
      when I type in a number with a leading zero, Excel will not
      display it. How can I correct this?

   A. Excel does not display leading zeros unless you specifically
      format your worksheet to do so. To format a cell or range of
      cells to display leading zeros, use the following three steps:

      a. Select the cell or the range of cells that you want to
         display leading zeros.

      b. From the Format menu, choose Number.

      c. At the bottom of the dialog box where it says Code, type in
         the number of zeros equal to the number of digits you want to
         see in the cells. For example, in the case of ZIP Codes, you
         might type in five zeros, showing Excel that you always want
         to see five digits in the cell, even if the digit is a zero.