« Linking Text Boxes, Chart Titles, and Data Labels Dynamically to Data (Excel) | Main | 2% of Office »

My single favorite thing about producing documents in Microsoft Office is that the simplest solution almost always gives you the best results. Workarounds and even add-in applications often are much more time-consuming with less precise or less dynamic results than just using the right feature for the job.

If you've read much of what I write on Office, including pretty much any part of my new book, you've heard this from me before: Regardless of what Office application you're talking about -- the less work you do, the better your results will be. Period.

Of course, that's a mighty nice generalization ... but, if you don't know where to start, what then? The purpose of this post is to give you both a few general and a few specific tips for saving time when working in Office with a look at some quick-solution examples that might surprise you...

For starters, did you know ...

How tightly you zoom in on an Excel chart or PowerPoint drawing object can affect the look of the resulting object in the document itself, as well as when printed or even copied into Word:

I love this example because of how simple the solution is to something that often seems frustrating and impossible to fix!

Let's say you copy an Excel pie chart and paste it into Word-- if some of the data label leader lines don't appear on the chart, before you start drawing lines and fussing and fighting to position them correctly on the chart ... just zoom in as tightly as possible on the chart in Excel before you copy it. You're likely to be pleasantly surprised at the results.

Note that the same goes for that icky little screen bug that makes the text within a chart's axis title appear cut off (even when you copy and paste the chart, or print it). Try just zooming in before you try fussy workarounds.

On the chance that zoom doesn't do the trick for you in either case above ... a slight resizing of the plot area for the pie chart, or creating a linked text box in place of the axis title, are much faster fixes than the frustrations of trial-and-error workarounds.

However, while we're looking at screen bugs, here's one with an even easier solution: If you've ever had borders appear on your Word table that you didn't put there -- just page down a few times and up again, or go to File, Print Preview and then return to your view to clear the screen. Chances are it's just screen junk. (Note that, if the spurious borders print, they aren't screen junk. If this happens in Word 2002 or 2003, they're probably a result of your default table style. In these versions, quickly clear all unwanted borders and shading from a table by clicking anywhere in the table -- then apply Table Normal style.

Not everything that you might be inclined to spend time on has as simple a solution as changing the zoom, paging up and down to clear the screen, or applying a style. But, you might be surprised at how many Office tasks do! Let's take a look at a couple of other specific document production experiences that are common pitfalls with super-easy solutions:

Let's say you've got a financial table in a Word document. There's a merged heading over 5 columns, and you have to add an additional column under the same merged heading. Ever try this one? Just insert a column or try inserting the cells and the table might just appear to go haywire! So, if this sounds familiar and you've ever spent more time than you want to admit fussing and fighting to try to realign the columns of your table -- you'll be happy with this solution ...

Though Draw Table is far from the most efficient way to create a Word table in your document, it is a dream for editing like this! Using this feature, you can cut the work down to 2 simple steps, with no fudging whatsoever:

1. Go to Table, Draw Table to attach the draw table pencil to your mouse pointer -- and then draw a line down the middle of any of the existing sub-columns to split it. (Don't draw through the merged heading cell! just draw through the cells where you want the additional column to appear.) And, don't be concerned if the content of the column you just split gets all smooshed because it's too small -- it won't be in a second.

2. Select all columns that sit under the merged heading cell, including the newly split one (don't select the merged heading!) and then select Table, AutoFit, Distribute Columns Evenly.

That's it! It's perfect. No fussing, no fighting ...absolutely precise in about 3 seconds. And, if Draw Table added unwanted cell borders ... that takes no time to edit!

The point of this example is that using the available features is infinitely faster, easier, and gives you better results than workarounds ... even if you have to spend a little time finding the best feature for the job.

The long and short of this: If it feels like the solution you need for any Office document production task is really complicated, there is probably a much simpler and more precise way to get it done:

Need to move an indent or tab less than 1\16th of an inch on the Ruler in Word? Hold down the Alt key while you drag the tab or indent marker. (Ctrl key does the same in PowerPoint). Need a different type of chart for your already charted data in Excel? Don't start all over! Select the chart and go to Chart, Chart Type to change the existing chart's type (or select a single series before goint to Chart, Chart Type to change the chart type for just that series ... such as when you need to add a line series to an existing column chart). Need to align several shapes on a PowerPoint slide? Instead of nudging until you turn blue, use the Align or Distribute tools on the Drawing toolbar's Draw menu and get it done in a click or two!

If these examples seem too basic to help you, keep in mind that the same principle applies to virtually any document production feature in the Office applications. There is a logic to everything that happens, even if you don't like the result. And, sometimes the easiest features to work with are the ones that seem the most complex at first -- Word tables or Outline Numbered lists, Excel PivotTables or nested functions, complex presentation graphics in PowerPoint or flowcharts in Visio ... just to name a few favorites. If it doesn't seem to be doing what you need, don't assume the application can't do it. And, above all, please don't keep going when you don't like the results (that's the quickest and most common way to make a big, hair-tearing mess)! Taking the time to find a simple, stable, precise solution will almost always take much less time than fudging it!

If you're looking for a solution to a specific issue that isn't addressed here -- please post a comment or drop an email and I'll try to help ...

Posted by Stephanie

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.arouet.net/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/16