Journal of Accountancy

Technology

Outlook Provides Travel Instructions

By Stanley Zarowin

June 2002

Key to Instructions

To help readers follow the instructions in this article, we use two different typefaces.

Boldface type is used to identify the names of icons, agendas and URLs.

Sans serif type indicates commands and instructions that users should type into the computer and the names of files.

Q. I spend lots of time traveling to new clients—and often get lost. A colleague told me there was a great way to link a client’s address in Outlook to the Internet and that would give me travel directions with the click of a mouse. Is there any truth to that?

A. I know it sounds like science fiction, but your colleague gave you a good tip. Here’s how to do it. In Outlook, click on Contacts and then, if you don’t already have your client’s postal address listed (with the ZIP code), click on New and fill in the information.

To demonstrate how it’s done, I’ve entered President George W. Bush’s address at the White House in my Outlook’s Contact section (see right).

Notice in the toolbar on the top of the screen there is a yellow and black icon resembling a road sign. Click on it and Outlook will open your Internet link and connect you to Microsoft Expedia Maps where a map of the area surrounding your target address will appear (see below).

As you can see from the options on the screen, that single mouse click gives you the ability to, among other things, print the map, get detailed driving directions or find a nearby hotel.

Technology

Move Excel Worksheets from One Workbook to Another

By Stanley Zarowin

June 2002

Q. I often have to move several Excel worksheets from one workbook to another. I use the conventional copy-and-paste technique (Ctrl-C, Ctrl-P). While it works, it’s a real drag. Isn’t there a better way?

A. Yes. And the solution, you may be surprised to learn, is a drag, too, but not in the sense that it’s a bummer; you can literally drag worksheets from one workbook to another—in effect copying the dragged sheet into the other workbook.

To accomplish such a move, open both workbooks and then arrange them so they appear in the same screen. To do that, click on Window, Arrange and select Horizontal ; then click on OK . Using your mouse, arrange the workbooks so that you can see the tabs of both workbooks. Then simply click and drag the sheet tab from one workbook to another.


Before dragging the worksheets	After dragging the worksheets

Technology

Tips on Installing a New Operating System

By Stanley Zarowin

June 2002

Q. I’ve decided to upgrade my operating system from Windows 98 to XP. I’m not so much interested in all the new XP features—although I’m sure I’ll find them useful. My primary reason is that my current Win 98 setup is unstable. No matter how I tinker with the system, it continues to give me problems. I even reinstalled it, but that did not improve things. So, with great reluctance, I figured it’s a “go” for XP. My question is this: Can I install XP right on top of Windows 98, or do I have to do a clean install?

A. That’s an important issue. As you suggest in your question, there are two ways to upgrade an operating system (OS): The easy way is simply to insert the new CD and let the new system automatically figure out how to upgrade the old one. The hard way is to totally reformat your current hard disk—that means you need to clean it out entirely, totally scrubbing it by reformatting it. Understand, however, that by reformatting a disk, you are completely erasing all its files; there’s no going back to retrieve a file you forgot to back up before you started the reformatting process.

You can see why the first method is so easy. You don’t have to back up any files (although you should anyway for safety) and Microsoft does most of the work. But if your old system is unstable, it’s unstable for a reason (or many reasons) and installing a new OS over an old one is like painting over old, blistered paint. It’s probably not going to work too well because the underlying foundation is compromised.

So if your current setup isn’t working perfectly, you really have no option but to do a clean install. However, you may at least want to give the simple method a try. It probably won’t work, but then, with software, the unexplained does happen.

If it fails, get prepared for the clean install by first backing up all your files. Also, be sure you have copies of all your applications and passwords because when you reformat the hard disk, all that will be lost.

If you’re not computer savvy and a little nervous about this exercise, you’d be wise to get an expert to guide you through the process and then help you set up your new defaults. When it works right—as it usually does—the whole process (not counting the backups) takes about an hour.

Technology

Browsing in Large Word Documents

By Stanley Zarowin

June 2002

Q. I work with very large instructional documents with lots of elements (tables and graphics, for example) and browsing around a document trying to find things can be quite a challenge. Can you suggest any ways to make my job easier?

A. The last several versions of Word have a tool that I think you’ll find very helpful. You’ll find the tool, called a Browser (not to be confused with the Internet browser), in the lower-right corner of your Word screen. It’s a small, round button with a gray circle in it, situated between the set of double arrow keys.

Clicking on the button will produce this menu of icons, each presenting browser targets—things such as lists, graphics and tables. If you hold you cursor over the icon, a description of the target is disclosed.

Select the appropriate icon and click on it to initiate the search for that element. You then can use the corresponding doubleheaded arrows above and below the button to jump from place to place, stopping at the kind of object you selected.

Technology

A Fast Way to Address an E-mail

By Stanley Zarowin

June 2002

Q. I’m just starting to use Outlook as my e-mail tool, and although it’s very good, I’m sure there are ways to make it work even more efficiently. For example, I send e-mails most frequently to three people, yet each time I set up a message, I have to go through the same routine of clicking on New and then finding them in the Contacts section for their address. Is there an easier way?

A. There is, and while the solution I’m going to give you is specific for this task, the underlying technology of the solution can be applied to many other tasks. The goal is to open frequently used files or applications quickly and easily.

The strategy behind the idea is think desktop. Your mostly empty desktop real estate can be transformed into a launching pad for the many things you do on a regular basis. But rather than boring you with a strategy sermon, let’s answer your question and I’m sure you’ll get the point without my lecture.

Go to your desktop and right-click. That will bring up a menu from which you should select New and then Shortcut , which, in turn, will bring up a Create Shortcut menu (see left). (Editor’s note: I am using the XP operating system so the menu screen looks a little different than those in earlier Windows operating systems.)

In the text box, type mailto: and the recipient’s e-mail address. For example: mailto:zarowin@mindspring.com

Notice there are no spaces between the words. Then click on Next and select a name for the shortcut and click on Finish .

You can even choose a special icon for the shortcut by right-clicking on it and going to Properties and then on Change Icon and selecting from the icons available in the menu.

Now when you click on the icon, a blank, fully addressed e-mail to Zarowin is waiting for your further instructions.

Do you get the idea? Using the same process, you can create shortcuts to other things: opening up folders and files—in fact, you can open most anything on your computer right from the desktop with just a click of the mouse.

Neat, eh?

Clarification
Occasionally I receive e-mails from readers complaining they cannot activate a tip I mention in this column. More often than not, it’s because not all tips work in every edition of Windows.

I try to test shortcuts in two Windows editions: Windows 2000 and XP. As you can imagine, it would be very difficult to test them in every edition, and it would be equally difficult to find out which editions are incompatible with a tip. I apologize for the inconvenience.

Do you have a technology question for this column? Or, after reading an answer, do you have a better solution? Send them to Senior Editor Stanley Zarowin via e-mail at zarowin@mindspring.com . We regret that we cannot answer letters individually. If a reader’s question is deemed to have sufficiently broad interest, we will answer it in a forthcoming Technology Q&A column.

—The editors

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