Outlook is an indispensible application when it comes to maintaining communication with friends and coworkers. Microsoft has packed an array of wonderful features into Outlook to assist in this endeavor. However, there is an interesting “feature” in Outlook that, for some people, seems to go one step too far in helping and actually doubles back […]
Excel Color – Order of Application (Hierarchy)
Have you ever wondered why Excel, on occasion, will or will not color a cell according to your instructions? The reason may lie in the order by which Excel applies colors. Excel applies colors in layers. These layers are comprised of three criteria: Colors automatically applied via the implementation of a Data Table Colors manually […]
iPhone – Make a Call Without Unlocking Your Phone
Apple’s iOS 10 has some amazing new features. Performing a simple Google search can reveal dozens upon dozens of neat tricks. The following trick has become a fast favorite amongst iPhone users. Placing a call without unlocking your phone It is well known that you can make an emergency call to 9-1-1 on any cellphone […]
Restoring FIND Keyboard Shortcut in Word 2016
There’s nothing like a good keyboard shortcut to help improve workflow efficiency. Most Office users quickly learn the standard keyboard shortcuts, like CTRL+S for SAVE or CTRL+P for PRINT, but what about CTRL+F for FIND? This is a great way to bring up the FIND dialog box. Somewhere along the way, Microsoft, in its infinite […]
Excel IFS and SWITCH Function (Say Goodbye to Nested IFs and VLOOKUPS On Small Tables)
Some of the first functions that a newly-titled “power user” learn are IF and VLOOKUP. The IF function provides the user the ability to ask a question and perform action “A” for one answer and action “B” for another answer. The catch is that any question posed must be answerable as either “true” or “false”. […]
Two-Way Lookup with the Intersection Operator
Locating a specific item in a table based on two separate criteria can be a challenging task, even for the most ardent Excel user. Take the following table, for example: Suppose you wish to locate the sales for the Southern region in the month of March. You could try to write a sophisticated VLOOKUP with […]
VLOOKUP–Looking to the LEFT!
Anyone who has ever used Excel and needed to query a table for information has no doubt used a VLOOKUP function. VLOOKUP is one of the most widely used functions in all of Excel. But even the most popular things in life are not without their shortcomings. The single most vexing problem for VLOOKUP users […]
How Big is a Spreadsheet?
Have you ever wondered just how large an Excel spreadsheet really is? When it comes to entering data, Excel spreadsheets have grown larger and larger over the years. In Excel’s infancy, spreadsheets were only 256 columns wide and 16,384 rows tall. Over the years the number of columns remained at 256 but the height grew […]