A. There are several ways to do that, but by far the easiest is to use the IF and TODAY functions. Here’s how.

Assume the due date is in cell A3 and you want an alert five days in advance. In column B add this formula:

=IF(A3<(TODAY()+5),”ALERT: DUE DATE”,””)

The formula checks A3, and if the current date is at least five days away, it will display the alert. To make it more prominent, consider coloring the alert cell red (see screenshot below).

To add a little pizzazz to the worksheet, you can program Excel to post the current date above the two columns. And so it’s clear the posted date is today’s date, and not some other due date, use a little Excel trick to combine both the current date and a brief text description, such as “Today is.” To do that, we’ll use a simple string formula:

=“Today is” & TEXT(NOW(),”dddd, mmm dd, yyyy”)

The final product looks like this:

A. It’s really quite simple but not very intuitive. Let’s use the worksheet below to illustrate.

If you highlight row 2 and then click on Windows , Freeze Panes , the labels for the four quarters and the fiscal year will always stay in view no matter how far down you move the cursor (see screenshot below). Notice the heavy black line above Gross profit: That’s the dividing line between cells always in view (above the line) and those that disappear when you move the cursor down.

However, column A labels will be lost when you move the cursor to the right. To also keep them in view, return to Windows and click on Unfreeze .

Now highlight cell B2, which is the intersection of the two freeze points. If we freeze at that point, all the cells above it and to the left of it will always remain in view (see screenshot below).

Q. When I have several Excel files open, only the first one shows in my taskbar. However, when I open several Word files, they all show. What’s going on here

A. Windows works in mysterious ways. When I started to examine your question, I, too, was baffled for a few minutes. Of course you can control whether multiple files display in the taskbar: All you do is click on Tools , Options and the View tab and then place a check in the Windows in Taskbar box.

But I did not realize that setting the option in one Microsoft application does not also trigger it in all of them. So if you want all Excel files to show, run the same procedure in Excel.

By using Custom Views ( View , Custom Views ) you can create many custom snapshots and also temporarily customize a section of a spreadsheet, give that view a name, show or print it and then return the format to its original state.

For example, start with this section of a spreadsheet:

First I want to show and print the results of all four quarters and the fiscal year; then I want to show and print only the third and fourth quarters and the fiscal year. Begin by highlighting the section that displays all four quarters and click on View , Custom Views , evoking this screen:

Click on Add , and in the space below Views type a name for it: Full year .

Now hide the first- and second-quarter results (using Data, Group and Outline, Hide Detail ) and highlight the newly formatted image. Again click on View , Custom Views and Add . Give it a name: 3rd & 4th Q, as shown below.

Continue to add views until you’ve covered all the possible presentation scenarios you require.

Recalling a custom view is a few mouse clicks away. Each time you want to display or print one of the scenarios, bring up Custom Views and click on its name.

To download it, go to www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx .

Once loaded, it will appear as an icon (see screenshot below) in the Control Panel . To bring up the Control Panel , click on Start, Settings, Control Panel .

When you click on the icon to launch it, a wizard steps you through the setup, giving you a choice of several samples of type (see screenshot below); picking the clearest triggers an automatic fine-tuning of your screen display. The one on the left is slightly clearer.

Excel: If you want more than one line of text in a single cell, force a line return by pressing Alt+Enter.

Excel and Word: A fast way to copy formatting or styles to multiple parts of a document or worksheet: Click on the word or number whose formatting you want to duplicate, click twice on the Format Painter , which looks like a paintbrush, then just click on any numbers or text you want similarly formatted. But don’t forget to disengage it by pressing Esc or it will continue to reformat everything you click on. For a one-time copy, click once on the Format Painter .

Google: If you know only part of a URL, you can still find what you want by typing allinurl : and then the fragment in the search box. Typing allinurl : CPA , for example, will bring up the CPA exam website, www.cpa-exam.org , and all other web addresses that include “CPA.”

STANLEY ZAROWIN, a former JofA senior editor, is now a contributing editor to the magazine. His e-mail address is zarowin@mindspring.com .

By using Custom Views ( View , Custom Views ) you can create many custom snapshots and also temporarily customize a section of a spreadsheet, give that view a name, show or print it and then return the format to its original state.

For example, start with this section of a spreadsheet:

First I want to show and print the results of all four quarters and the fiscal year; then I want to show and print only the third and fourth quarters and the fiscal year. Begin by highlighting the section that displays all four quarters and click on View , Custom Views , evoking this screen:

Click on Add , and in the space below Views type a name for it: Full year .

Now hide the first- and second-quarter results (using Data, Group and Outline, Hide Detail ) and highlight the newly formatted image. Again click on View , Custom Views and Add . Give it a name: 3rd & 4th Q, as shown below.

Continue to add views until you’ve covered all the possible presentation scenarios you require.

Recalling a custom view is a few mouse clicks away. Each time you want to display or print one of the scenarios, bring up Custom Views and click on its name.

To download it, go to www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx .

Once loaded, it will appear as an icon (see screenshot below) in the Control Panel . To bring up the Control Panel , click on Start, Settings, Control Panel .

When you click on the icon to launch it, a wizard steps you through the setup, giving you a choice of several samples of type (see screenshot below); picking the clearest triggers an automatic fine-tuning of your screen display. The one on the left is slightly clearer.

Excel: If you want more than one line of text in a single cell, force a line return by pressing Alt+Enter.

Excel and Word: A fast way to copy formatting or styles to multiple parts of a document or worksheet: Click on the word or number whose formatting you want to duplicate, click twice on the Format Painter , which looks like a paintbrush, then just click on any numbers or text you want similarly formatted. But don’t forget to disengage it by pressing Esc or it will continue to reformat everything you click on. For a one-time copy, click once on the Format Painter .

Google: If you know only part of a URL, you can still find what you want by typing allinurl : and then the fragment in the search box. Typing allinurl : CPA , for example, will bring up the CPA exam website, www.cpa-exam.org , and all other web addresses that include “CPA.”

STANLEY ZAROWIN, a former JofA senior editor, is now a contributing editor to the magazine. His e-mail address is zarowin@mindspring.com .