A. Yes, and it takes just a few steps. Go to Tools , Options , and click on the View tab. Near the bottom of the Options screen (see right) uncheck the Zero values box.

A. If you’re using a version later than Excel 2000 and running the Office Suite with Outlook, the answer is yes and the process is easy. Begin by highlighting the portion of the worksheet you want to send and then click on the Mail Recipient button.

If that button is not available on your toolbar, go to File and Send To , prompting the screen above.

Click on Mail Recipient to bring up this Outlook e-mail screen at right:

Fill in the e-mail address information and a short note, if you wish, and send.

A. Word has a function for compressing—or expanding—text. Let’s take the following phrase and see how it works:

Expanding or Shrinking Text

Begin by highlighting the text and then go to Format , Font , and click on the Character Spacing tab. Click on the arrow next to the Spacing box and choose Condensed . Now move over to the By box and adjust the amount of condensing you want.

You can make the text look like this:

or this:

or something in between.

A. You can make a template of the box. To do that, click on File , Save As , give it a name and save it as a Document Template (*.dot) .

Then, the next time you want to access the box, click on File , New , and your list of templates will be displayed. Click on it, and presto, your box appears ready to be filled in.

Another way is to use the AutoText feature of Word: It’s a powerful tool. As the name implies, AutoText automatically reproduces any saved text, but it also will do the same for graphics and tables. The reproduction is evoked by the use of a code word you create.

To illustrate, begin by preparing your table.

Now highlight the table and click on Insert , AutoText and New , which generates the screen at left.

AutoText suggests a code name, but you can override it with a word of your choice. Let’s use sales and click on OK . Now, every time you type the word sales , you will be alerted with this pop-up message on the screen:

If you press Enter, the table will appear. But, if you just keep typing, the message will disappear and the table won’t come up.

You can leave the AutoText entry in your memory for future use or easily erase it by returning to Insert , AutoText , clicking on AutoText again, highlighting the code word sales and clicking on Delete . Likewise, you can leave your entry in AutoText for as long as you like.

A. While it’s true there are undocumented processes in many Microsoft applications—as in other tools as well—your inability to make them work is not because you lack some secret information. Instead, perhaps you haven’t done the right thing yet. For example, before those clicking “tricks” can work, you have to inform Word of your preferences. To do that, go to Tools , Options and click on the Edit tab.

Notice in the middle of the screen, on the right side, a box marked When selecting, automatically select entire word. Place a check in it. Without that box marked, none of the screen clicking will work. Here are the clicking tricks. To select

A single word , double-click on it.

An entire paragraph , triple-click anywhere inside the paragraph or double-click on the left margin.

A sentence , hold down Ctrl and click on the sentence.

A line (all text in one line from left to right margin), single-click on the left margin.

An entire document , triple-click on the left margin or press Ctrl+A.

Another useful trick: To easily move an entire paragraph up or down, highlight it, press Alt+Shift and then either click on the up arrow (to move the paragraph up) or the down key (to move it down). And if you use automatic numbering, it even will adjust any existing numbers.

A. If, when you highlight the item, you just press Shift-Delete, you will bypass the Deleted Items folder and permanently wipe the item out.

A. You can. In fact, not only can you assign a task by e-mail to a colleague whose Outlook is network-connected, you can add a deadline, keep an updated copy of the task on your Task List and customize your Tasks so you receive status reports.

Begin by clicking on Tasks on your Folder List and then click on New , opening this screen right:

After filling in all the details, click on Actions on the toolbar, generating the screen at left.

Now click on Assign Task , and you’ll get the screen below.

Notice you can set the due date, start date, status, priority and the percent completed. In addition, you have two options:

Keep an updated copy of this task on my task list.

Send me a status report when it is complete.

A. Welcome to the world of high technology. You’ll be happy to discover that this feature is very easy to use. Open either a document, spreadsheet or PowerPoint file you want to add a Web site link to. Click on Insert and Hyperlink (shortcut: Ctrl+K), evoking the Insert Hyperlink screen. Either type in the URL of the site, or better yet, open your browser and go to the target site and then return to the Insert Hyperlink screen and you’ll find the address automatically inserted. Click on OK and your link gets added to what you’re working on.

It’s that simple.