Information management and technology assurance

Every now and then I have to reverse the order of a long list in Excel that is not in alphabetical or numerical order—a tedious job. Do you know of a shortcut? Yes, you can adapt Custom Lists, a tool you should become familiar with because it is versatile and

I usually set up my annual budget in one Excel workbook, and then I add 12 more sheets—one for each month of the year—so I can easily track the monthly data. Each sheet contains the same rows, columns and formulas. Only the headings on each worksheet are different, along with

Each year I take some of my prior-year Excel workbooks and delete all the old data except for the formulas—a tedious process. Is there a better way to do this? Excel has a tool for that. Highlight the area of the worksheet you want cleared. In this case, since the

I use a spreadsheet for my work that’s formatted in a very complicated way. So every time I open a new worksheet, I have to go through all the preliminary format setup steps to prepare it for my special requirements—such as columns with varying widths and even different colors for

Ctrl+1: Opens the Format Cells menu Ctrl+Shift+&: Places a border around a cell or group of highlighted cells Ctrl+Shift+-: Removes the border Ctrl+Shift+$: Turns a cell or highlighted row or column into a dollars-and-cents format Windows logo key+E: Opens Windows Explorer

I’ve been told that any time I make a major change in my computer—such as installing new software or new hardware— I should create a new System Restore point. But that function is buried under many layers, and so, when I’m busy, more often than not I fail to follow

I think the most effective way, and it’s my favorite, is to put the shortcut right in the Start menu so all you have to do to access the shortcut is click on the Start menu. The procedure takes a few seconds. Start by placing a shortcut to the target

To generate the list, place your cursor at the left side of the bottom of the worksheet screen, in the area of the black arrows, and right-click.

Under the Visibility heading, place a check next to Show location of pointer when I press the CTRL key. When you engage that function, you’ll see an animated shrinking bull’s-eye aimed at the cursor; it can’t be missed. There are other things you can do, too, to make the cursor