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Volume 11, Number 12 

December , 2016
Both Nancy and I had a wonderful Christmas this year. Actually we had four different Christmas get togethers in order to accommodate our large families' schedules. The highlight for me was meeting Nancy's newest grandson. Felix was born 3 months prematurely and was only released from the neonatal unit at Sunnybrook the week before Christmas. It was wonderful holding him for the first time.

2017 should be a busy year, as usual, for K2E Canada. We have a number of new programs in the development stage. You will hear more about them in the forthcoming issues of this newsletter.

Our latest venture is a series of FREE 1 hour mini webinars that are held once a month. The first three have been a great success with both sessions sold out and and we had a good number of bookkeepers and accountants sign up to be view the recorded videos.

The next mini webinar is scheduled for January 16th and January 23rd at 12:00 PM EST and is entitled "K2's Excel Magic Part IV and CCH iFirm - Simplify and Take Control of Your Practice". It will last for an hour and features 25 minutes of my Excel Magic tips and then switches over to CCH where get a first look at their connected online solution that will help you run a better business and keep your staff and clients connected and happy. The session will be recorded, so if you can't join us for the live session, register and you can view the webinar on your time. You will receive 1 CPD for attending.  CLICK  HERE  to register for this free event.

For those of you who have attended one of our K2 seminars hosted by one of the accounting associations, have you thought about providing this training to your colleagues? This is a very affordable way to improve the Excel skills of the members of your team. We have a few openings this spring and more in the fall. If you would like additional information about our in house seminars, please contact me at the e-mail address below. 
 
Since this will be the last newsletter before the New Year, Nancy and I would like to wish you and yours a wonderful 2017.

As usual, I would welcome your comments at   [email protected] .

Sincerely,
Alan Salmo n

Excel Tips

ExcelTopDecEnsuring Columns and Rows are Empty
Summary:  
It is important to check if a row or column has data before you delete it. Here is a quick way to check for a completely blank row or column:
 
It is easy to delete rows or columns you think are blank, when in fact they contain data you cannot see on the screen. Here are the steps to check for data without scrolling through the gazillion rows and columns in your worksheet: 
  1. Click on the first cell of the column (A1, H1, etc.).
  2. Hold down the Ctrl key as you press the down arrow or the right arrow.
Performing these simple steps causes Excel to move to the next cell containing data. If there is no data, Excel selects the last cell in the column (at row 1,048,576) or the last cell in the row (at column XFD). You then know that the row or column is empty and you can safely delete it.
 
  
ExcelSecondDec Setting the Background Colour in Cells
Summary: 
There are times when you need to apply a background color to one or more cells in a worksheet. Here is how to do this:
  
The Fill Color tool (available on the Home tab of the ribbon) has a small bucket and color sample on it. This tool actually has two parts; if you click on the left part (the part with the small bucket and color sample), then the color shown in the sample is applied to the cells you have selected. Note that the color of the font doesn't change, only the color of the cell background. 

If you click on the arrow at the right side of the tool, a color palette appears. To select a color, click your mouse on one of the small color squares. This is applied to the cells you have selected and appears in the color sample on the Fill Color tool. 

There is another way to change the cell color: 
  1. Select the cells whose color you want to change.
  2. Press Ctrl+Shift+F.
  3. Excel displays the Format Cells dialog box.
  4. Make sure the Fill tab is selected.
  5. Using the color palette in the dialog box, select the cell color.
  6. Click on OK.
Both methods get the same result. The choice of which one to use is a personal preference.   
 


Before Excel can read your data, you must add the following buttons to your Quick Access Toolbar: Speak Cells, Speak Cells - Stop Speaking Cells, Speak Cells by Columns, Speak Cells by Rows, and Speak Cells on Enter. After you have done this you can hear the data in selected cells by doing the following:
  1. Select the cells that you want Excel to read.
  2. Click on either the Speak by Columns or Speak by Rows icon in the Quick Access Toolbar.
  3. Click Speak Cells by Columns if you want Excel to read down the columns.
  4. Click Speak Cells by Rows if you want Excel to read across the rows.
  5. Click on the Speak Cells icon in the Quick Access Toolbar and Excel will read the selected data.
  6. To stop Excel reading the cells, click on the Speak Cells - Stop Speaking icon in the Quick Access Toolbar.
If you click on the Speak on Enter button the cell contents will be read each time you hit the Enter key. 
 
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Word Tip

 

WordDecHighlighting Information Using Shading
Summary: There are times when you would like to highlight a paragraph in your document. Here is how to do this: 

You can do this with Word's shading tool.  To add shading to a paragraph involves the following steps:
  1. Click and place your insertion point in the paragraph that you want to shade.
  2. Click on the Home tab of the ribbon.
  3. In the Paragraph group, click on the down-arrow to the right of the Shading tool. (This tool looks like a tilted paint bucket, spilling paint to the right.) Word then displays a shading palette.
  4. Hover over a color and your paragraph will be shaded with that color. 
  5. When you find a color that you like, click on the color and your paragraph will be shaded.  
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K2E Canada Inc. is a leading provider of professional development seminars for the Canadian accounting world. Each month we publish this free Office Tips e-mail newsletter. These tips will save you time and enhance the appearance of your Office files.

 

To subscribe to our K2E Canada newsletter send an e-mail to

[email protected]   with "Subscribe to newsletter" in the Subject.  
Your information is always kept secure and never shared.
 
Alan Salmon
Managing Director
K2E Canada Inc.
647-722-4741