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A PDF file is a document which retains all of the visual attributes of the file from which it was generated. This means that users will see the file as its creator formatted it but that they don’t need the software that was used to make the document.

The only software they will need is Acrobat Reader which, as everyone knows, is free.

PDFs are a great thing but it is often difficult to find a particular piece of information just by scrolling through the document. Bookmarks make navigation less painful by allowing the user to get to a specific place in the document by just clicking a link.

Once you have created a PDF, spending a few minutes making it more interactive will increase its usefulness to anyone who opens it. Bookmarks are a simple way of creating this interactivily and increasing your chances of your PDF influencing potential customers.

The bookmarks panel is standard feature of all versions of Acrobat including the free reader. To make it visible, the user clicks on the View menu, then on Navigation Panels then on Bookmarks. To use a bookmark, the user just clicks on it and is taken to the page with which the bookmark has been associated.

Bookmarks a must-have accessory for any PDF file that wants to call itself interactive. The bad news is, you can’t create them with Acrobat Reader but, in any case, you can’t create PDF files with Reader either. For both of these activities you need to purchase of the two commercial Acrobat products: Acrobat Standard or Acrobat Professional.

Once you have created the PDF, open it with Acrobat Standard or Professional and open the Bookmarks panel. Next, navigate to the first page that you want your audience to be able to find easily, choose New Bookmark from the Options menu in the top right of the Bookmarks panel and enter a name for the bookmark. Repeat this procedure to create as many bookmarks as you think useful.

You’re probably thinking that this all sounds a bit tedious. The good news is that there are a few ways of accelerating the process. The first technique involves using the selection tool which you will find next to the Hand tool on the Acrobat toolbar. Once you have scrolled to the page you want linked, highlight some text on the page which could act as the name of the bookmark. When you create your bookmark, this text will automatically become the name of the bookmark. (Also, to create the bookmark, try using Control-B.)

Still too tedious? How about using a program that creates all your bookmarks for your automatically? AutoBookmark is a commercial utility that just does that. It looks at the headings and text formats used throughout the documents and then creates bookmarks based on the document structure.

Then there is Adobe’s own PDFMaker, a utility for Microsoft Office 97, 2002 and 2003 which is automatically installed along with Acrobat Standard or Professional producing an extra menu in Office programs called “Adobe PDF” and an “Adobe PDFMaker” toolbar.

Let’s look at what PDFMaker does in the three most widely-used programs of the Microsoft Office suite. Firstly, in Word, it generates bookmarks out of any index entries, table of contents items and stylesheet-formatted text. Secondly, in PowerPoint, it creates bookmarks which take you to each of your slides and, thirdly, in Excel, bookmarks are generated that are linked to each of the worksheets of the original Excel workbook.

Some DTP packages will also automatically generate PDF bookmarks in a similar way to Microsoft Word (based on styles, indexes and tables of content), namely InDesign, QuarkXPress and Serif PagePlus. These three software applications have the added benefit that you don’t actually need to buy Acrobat Standard or Professional to create your PDF files, since this facility is built-in to each of these great programs.

Bookmarks are a lot more flexible than people realize: they do much more than simply taking the user to a particular page. Also, its not actually a link to a page that bookmarks link to, it’s the view of that page that was current when the bookmark is created. Thus, for example, if you create a bookmark after zooming in on a particular item on the page, that bookmark will take the user back to that same zoom whenever it is clicked.

In addition, bookmarks can be made to perform other tasks, such as linking to a web URL or opening a document (in any format) on an intranet. To change what a bookmark will do, having created it, right-click the bookmark and choose Properties, then click on the Actions tab. Highlight the default action (”Go to a page in this document”) and click Delete. Choose an alternative action from the drop-down menu labeled “Select Action” and click the Add button.

Adobe have realized that it is possible that your bookmarks will not be seen by people opening your PDF. Perhaps they don’t open their Bookmarks panel or perhaps they don’t even know what a bookmark is.

As part of the finalization process after creating your bookmarks, choose File - Properties then click on the Initial View tab. Set the initial view to Bookmarks panel and Page to ensure that bookmarks will always show when people open your document.

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The writer of this article is a trainer and developer with Macresource Computer Solutions, a top quality computer training company offering Training courses on Adobe Acrobat at their training centre in London and throughout the UK.

You can quickly and easily spend thousands of dollars buying software for your computer.

Since there are so many great computer programs out there, it’s hard to resist the buying impulse.

However, before you start shelling out your hard earned money buying software for your computer, there are several things you should consider:

1. Why do I need this software?
2. Is there a free version that will work just as well?
3. What’s the difference among freeware, shareware, free trials, open source, etc.?

Freeware is simply software that you can get for free. Sometimes it has advertising in it, and sometimes it doesn’t. The downside of using freeware is that it might not be stable, or it contains advertising.

Shareware is where you get a full version of the software, and you get to try all of the features for a certain period of time. Then, if you want to keep it, you have to pay the fee.

Free trials allow you to try the software, but not all of the features are enabled, so you will have to upgrade to get everything to work.

Open Source is free software that has been developed by volunteer programmers and is freely available. You can even edit the source code if you like. The downside is that not all open source software is stable, and it can cause problems on your computer.

There are also other types of software, like donationware, or lite versions of the software. With lite versions, you get a working version of the software, but some of the features are disabled. Unlike a free trial, you can continue to use the lite version forever.

Below are five sites where you can get some great software for your computer.

Some of these sites are free. Others, you have to buy the software, but it’s definitely worth the investment.

Freeware Home - http://www.freewarehome.com - This is absolutely one of the best websites on the internet. It contains over 7,000 programs that are all free. The programs are all full versions of the software, and there are tons of categories. If you can’t find what you’re looking for here, you’ll be hard pressed to find it anywhere else.

Doug Knox - http://www.dougknox.com - This site is actually more of a site for scripts you can run on your computer. All of the scripts are designed to fix various computer problems you may be having. You’ll also find information on different operating systems as well, so this is a good all around computer resource to help you solve your computer problems.

Snap and Pop - http://www.snapnpopdragon.com/ - This program isn’t free, but I felt it was important to mention it.

This site offers a free ecourse to show you how to tweak your computer so that you can get better performance out of it. The software is especially good for anyone who is new to computers because it can help you maximize your resources, as well as fix any computer problems, and you don’t need to be a computer geek to do it.

Webmaster Free - http://www.webmasterfree.com - If you are a webmaster, or you’re considering building a website, this site is absolutely invaluable.

You’ll find every possible tool you can imagine to help you build, upload, and promote your website. Although there are plenty of free trials and shareware located here, there’s enough free software on this site to keep you browsing for days. This site is part of the iEntry Network, where you can find tons of information on just about anything, especially if it’s related to business.

Jumbo - http://www.jumbo.com - This is one of the oldest software sites on the internet and contains thousands of programs. You can find all kinds of freeware, shareware, free trials, and other computer software to download. This site also offers software for just about any operating system. Part of the internet.com network.

There are tons of places on the internet to find free software. However, it’s important that you use a reliable site to find it. Otherwise, you can end up with all kinds of spyware, adware, and malware on your computer, and it will cause you all kinds of problems.

Avoid all of that by surfing on reliable sites. These sites will keep you surfing for days, and you’ll find tons of great software for your computer.

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Jinger Jarrett is the “Internet Marketing for Free” lady. She will show you how to use free techniques to market your business. Get thousands of dollars in free internet marketing stuff when you Visit her blog at Internet Marketing for Free

When considering the best software packages to convert your digital images into slideshow presentations it is important to choose one that will cover all your requirements whether you are a beginner or an advanced user.

As a beginner you will be looking for ease of use and the possibility to use a ?wizard? ? a simple menu driven option ? to create impressive slideshows quickly and easily. The ability to add background music to the slideshow and even commentary recorded easily via a microphone will be essential. Once you have the basics have been mastered, the software should then to offer a range of sophisticated features and functions in order that you can get the maximum benefit from your digital images and photographs.

Images can be uploaded from digital cameras of course but it is important also to have the facility to use images that have been scanned into the PC and this feature is an absolute must when considering which package to go with. Some packages also limit the number of images that can be used in a presentation. This is not helpful when designing large presentations so ensure that you choose one that offers the option to include an unlimited number in your slideshow.

Think about how easy it will be to organise your all your images, sounds and music into the final presentation. There are packages on the market that can split presentations into smaller files or ?chapters? which allows you to stay organised at all times. These chapters fit into a ?timeline? which is an excellent way to lay out your presentation in much the same way as movie director will have scenes in a film script. The timeline allows the use to align all the object such as images and music against a point in time and synchronise flow of sounds and images.

Music and sounds that can be faded in and out by defining the volume with the slideshow also add a professional touch to the finished article.

One of the most important factors in creating exciting and impressive slideshows is the number of different ways in which individual ?static? images can be moved around the screen to create the impression of animation on the screen. Not only a single image at time but even collages of several images! It is almost as if the photos are living! Make sure that you select a software package that enables you to take an image (or even just part of that image) and make it move through complex movement paths including rotation, zooms and camera pans. Fine tuning of these functions will produce an extremely professional-looking presentation.

A good slideshow is not just about the images but also the text to accompany the pictures. The very best slideshow packages will allow you to use a huge variety of effects on your text to make it fade in and out, fly across the screen around or even through your images, transitioning between the effects and adding many text features such as 3D. All the time you need to be able to control the timing of these effects for the most professional finish.

Once your slideshow is completed it is absolutely vital that it can be easily burned onto VCD or SVCD for playing on a PC or better still onto DVD so it can be watched on a television. If you can find a single package that does all of these things and is simple to learn and use through a series of tutorials then you will creating fantastic slideshow presentations in no time!

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Stuart Cheese is a Director for DCI UK, a leading UK Web Design Company and having reviewed dozens of software applications is now working with Aquasoft UK, The living photos photographic software specialists.

For many employees, having Internet tools on their desktop is important for them to be able to do their jobs. Many organizations and companies need the Internet on their employee’s computers in order to provide them with the tools to do their job.

If your staffers have the ability to surf online for pleasure from their desks, knowing what they’re doing on company time can be a real cause for concern. Different companies have different policies on Internet usage but this can be difficult to manage or police.

It might be in your policy that you allow your staff reasonable access to the worldwide web for personal use so long as it doesn’t drain company resources or take too much time from their responsibilities. You may have a strict policy for personal use during breaks or after hours only.
You may also have a no tolerance policy for ‘playing’ online during business hours. Some organizations have a complex policy that includes absolutely no personal use on company equipment. This can be difficult because providing the resources to your employees to do their job effectively may require that the Internet is wide open to their computers. Thus, whether or not your employees are respecting your rules may be a different story altogether.

Knowing what your employees are doing is detrimental to many businesses. Harmful online actions could not only cost productivity but could also be harmful to the company in terms of security measures. Your mission critical applications could be subjected to worms, viruses, Spyware and other damage if your staff members are downloading files to their work computer or participating in unsafe activities such as online gaming.

There are programs that can tell you what your employees are doing keystroke by keystroke. If you have a staff member who has been a problem and is on warning, software packages can tell you if they have heeded your warnings. They can track and trace every keystroke and action that occurs on the installed computer and include timestamps so you can see what’s going on and whether or not it’s happening during business hours. You can find out exactly what’s happening be it that your staff members are doing a fantastic job and are worthy of reward and praise or you can find out if people on your payroll are spending their days using company resources for personal use.

Company owners and managers need to protect their private company information and ensure that their paid employees are doing the job that they are paid for. If problems are occurring, software can help you track down exactly where this might be happening and who is responsible.
Installing computer monitoring surveillance software is a great way to ensure that you protect your business.

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Total Innovations, Inc. specializes in developing award winning software programs designed to solve computer users needs. The Emailspy computer monitoring software , www.spyblaster.com & www.folderhider.com are a few of the most recent. See full details at: www.emailspy.com

Whether the goal of your business document is to attract investors, satisfy stockholders, or gain new customers, it’s critical that they convey the precise message intended and look absolutely professional.

Just about every business Excel user knows how to create basic line graphs and bar charts, but there are a wide variety of other graphing and charting tools better suited for many types of statistical data. This article will touch on 5 Excel charts covered in Excel training that can take your business documents to a new level of professionalism.

Excel Radar Chart
The Excel radar chart is a “big picture” chart that allows you to quickly show patterns when there are numerous factors. Oftentimes, when there is simply too much information to display, it’s easy to miss the forest for the trees with other types of basic charts and graphs. Suppose your goal was to compare the ratings of 7 different television shows in 5 different markets over a course of 9 months. With so much data, the intended message could easily be lost with a series of bar charts. Excel training helps you to create radar charts that will quickly convey the message to your readers.

The Excel Bubble Graph
Another type of graph covered in Excel training to quickly compare numerous factors is the bubble graph. While the bubble graph has an x and y axis like a bar chart, the dimensions of the bubbles and their location on the plain also represents critical information. For example, think of an insurance company that sells policies in 10 states and each state has its own sales and revenue goals. The size of the bubble might represent the relative number of sales compared to projection while the bubble’s location on the graph might represent how profitable the company is in the particular state.

The Excel Stock Chart
While stock brokers and analysts are familiar with creating stock charts, understanding how to create stock charts is important for anyone who produces business plans or letters to stock holders. As you’ll learn in Excel training, the difference between a stock chart and a line graph is that a stock chart includes drop lines to portray the highs and lows of a stock between the open and close of a particular day. While readers can get the basic concept of a stock’s trend with a line or bar graph, using the appropriate charts for your business documents shows professionalism.

The Donut Chart
If you’ve ever tried to compare several pie charts side by side, you know that it becomes an awkward way to attempt to represent data. A better way of comparing several similar elements each containing fractional categories is with a donut chart which is covered in Excel training. A donut chart displays only a ring of the pie, so that you can truly see how the pieces of one top-level element compare with another.

The Surface or Contour Chart
Surface charts are 3D charts and are also covered in Excel training. The surface chart shows how one variable is affected by two other variables, for example how altitude changes with longitude and latitude. Through Excel training, you’ll learn how to harness large amounts of data with a surface chart and make a dramatic visual impression on the readers of your business document.

Charts make the meaning of lengthy rows of data crystal clear because it is simpler for most people to grasp information visually. This is precisely the reason that classroom-based Excel training surpasses self-study book or computer based training. Through the real-time examples shown in Excel training, learning how to create impressive charts for your business documents is simple.

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Author is a freelance copywriter. For more information on Excel Training, please visit www.MicrosoftTraining.net

All jewelry designing business owners know how essential a software program is for the management of their business. It is not easy to manage a jewelry designing business.

Apart from the hard work involved in sketching and crafting new jewelry designs, there are several other responsibilities to look into. Maintaining records and accounts, keeping inventory list, restocking when resources are going down, managing staff and other payments, etc. are just some of the difficulties involved. Then there are problems specific to the career, such as keeping up with latest design trends, working under pressure before festivals and wedding seasons, etc. It is true that there are good funds in this business, but that is not without its own compensations.

That is the cause why more and more jewelry designers are leaning onto inventory software. Though the name suggests jewelry business software is merely a tool to manage inventories, it is not so. Jewelry inventory software can also maintain accounts and several other commercial aspects of the business, including promotion and designing labels and catalogs. There are several features that can make the jewelry designer’s work easier.

The best advantage of jewelry inventory software is that it gives the jewelry designer loads of free time to devote to making jewelry patterns. Hence, instead of wasting time on the business side of things, the designer can exactly pay more time in improving the creative aspect of the craft and that is much more important to keep the business at the top. By effectively managing their inventories and accounts, jewelry designers are able to invest better time and creative resources in enhancing their business.

However, for budding business persons in jewelry designing, buying inventory software could hardly be a cheap thing to do. The price of most business management software is high, and the same can be said about jewelry store management software. Yet, there are some places on the Internet where you can get trial versions of this software, and even fully functional software if you get lucky. There are many places where you can get cheap inventory software. They might also provide you informational booklets on marketing your products and pricing them effectively, which could make the software seem to be more value for money to you.

Finally, you must remember that it is the worth of the software that is important and not the price. Even if you have to pay a few dollars initially, the software will be able to make your work much easier and profitable for you. It will provide your business with the professional touch that is so very important in keeping businesses at the top nowadays.

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If you have a jewelry designing business that you want to make very effective, you can take Sean’s example and invest in Jewelry Inventory Software. You can in fact read more of Sean’s views before you make up your mind. He has written some articles on the subject at his review website, accessible below:
www.beadingsoftwarereview.com

As we started the project of a web site, we knew that the proprietary software costs would be too high for the financial resources. The only option then was to make use of Open Source Code softwares.

However, within the Open Source Code there are lots of softwares to choose from, and it’s up to the system analyst/programmer to pick the ones that best suit the project goals.

In this case, we picked Linux as the operating system. However we faced a big question: Which Linux distribution ? There are dozens of linux distributions, each one with specific advantages, sometimes with or without paid services.

We chose linux Slackware because we thought that it would suit better our needs, in terms of stability and reliability. Slackware is a conservative distribution, meaning that it only offers in its distribution package kernel versions and third party libraries, once it’s been proved to be stable and reliable. As a result, Slackware is one the most stable Linux operating system on the market. If the user wishes the most recent Linux kernel and libraries, we recommend to look for a different distribution.

Another reason for us picking Slackware, was because of its text interface, which at the beginning may become a bit difficult, in the long run however it offers a better understanding of the Linux environment. This way most of Slackware configurations are done thru text scripts.

Once it was set the operating system, we picked Apache as the web server. Apache is one of the most popular web server in the internet. For server programming language, we chose PHP. Also, a very popular programming language. Experience with Apache/PHP proves that this setup is very reliable, working extremely well in a production environment. For workstation programming language, we chose javascript, which besides of having a simple syntax, it offers lots of resources.

Apache web server is really a complete web server. Also, it can become very complex with many configuration setups.

For the database, we picked Postgresql. This database has been made available to the public for more than 15 years, and besides of being well debugged, it offers so many resources that it has become one of the best database options from Open Source Code softwares. Extremely reliable, Postgresql has reported cases where there have been databases in production with over 4 terabytes. Besides all of that, Postresql is not the most popular Open Source Code database. A matter of marketing ? Probably.

As for the programming language PHP, we had to use an object oriented application structure. There are many PHP application structures being offered with Open Source Code license. Object oriented application is very important, because it makes programming very easy and scalable up to the point where the system may grow without many problems. Also, it helps to keep PHP code separated from HTML, with the help of some specific libraries, such as Smarty. We make use of Smarty library and we believe that it is a very important resource, which can even make web pages faster thru the use of its cache functions.

Also a very important set of libraries worth mentioning for PHP systems, is the PEAR libraries. In PEAR web site, among the many libraries being offered, there are the database interface DB and the MAIL_QUEUE, which sends emails thru the use of database.

As we came to the end of this project, we had to use some sort of real time database replication. For that we chose the DRBD and Heartbeat libraries. The use of database replication is very important and should not be postponed. Just after 3 months the system got into production, the server hard disk became bad. Thru the use of DRBD/Heartbeat we were able to put the system back into production within seconds, without loosing any data. DRBD/Heartbeat replication is done thru the use of a lan network between the server and slave nodes.

This project also makes use of ImageMagick (enlarge and reduce images), Iptables (firewall), Tsearch2(text search in portgresql) and Mon (linux monitoring tasks).

Also a very important library worth mentioning is the pseudo APC compiler for PHP. Speed is always a critical factor for internet sites.

The web site is already in production and based upon our experience we can say that the Open Source Code softwares we picked, proved to be extremely reliable and stable. Open Source Code softwares can certainly be an excellent option for developing web sites.

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This article can also be accessed in portuguese language from the News Article section of page PoloMercantil
Roberto Sedycias has a bachelor degree in Business Administration and over 20 years experience in systems analysis and computer programming. Currently working as IT consultant/chief software engineer for www.PoloMercantil.com.br

If you want to have the most professional, cross platform, hassle free digital documents you should use PDF (Portable Document Format) files. PDF files can be created using many different applications, but the format was initially supported by its native application, Adobe Acrobat.

Adobe Acrobat allows it’s users to save the output of many different page layout and content development applications in a format that is able to be used on all the major platforms (Windows, Macintosh, Unix) with freely available reader applications.

One of the major benefits of using the PDF file format is the format’s excellent printing capabilities. Files that are printed from a PDF file will look identical to how they look on screen. This is, indeed one of the major, and intended behaviors of the PDF format.

PDF was created in order to give designers a file format that was truly WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get). This means that designers can be free to use custom fonts, tables, layout elements, and images in their documents without fear of those documents looking strange or “wonky” on different machines. PDF files allow the designer to truly “design once, display anywhere”.

One of the best parts about using the PDF file format is that you are not roped into one application to generate all of your document’s content. You can create your images in your favorite graphics editing tool, such as Adobe Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro, you can do your page layout in Microsoft Word, Abiword, OpenOffice or Quark and still export to PDF files. No matter what tools you use to design, PDF files can fit into your routine and make your life easier to design for audiences on different platforms.

If you create digital documents as part of your job, you should definitely look into Adobe Acrobat and the PDF file format.

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James Hunt has spent 15 years as a professional writer and researcher covering stories that cover a whole spectrum of interest.
Read more at www.pdf-guide.com

The word “free” seems quiet interesting and makes several people enthusiastic. Many-a-times there is a hidden catch behind this term, however, it does not turns out to be, like it claims.

But this is not the case with windows registry repairs free downloads. You may try it out yourselves. Just a few clicks in fewer minutes and you can prevent your PC to crash down.

Yes, we all are aware of lowering speed of our PCs with the passing times. Don’t let this problem be a time fault. It definitely has an answer. Most of these problems arise because of the unnecessary and useless information being stored in the Windows registry which ultimately leads to crash down after symptoms like reboots and lowering speed.

However, Window Registry repair freeware are a nice choice to tackle these problems. It scans your registry and fixes the needed stuff either by repairing it or deleting it. As such, it carries an advantage of recovering the material deleted in case more problems are faced by user.

Just few words highlighting the functions of this freeware:

• Improves the performance of PC in terms of speed and stability of PC.

• Repair invalid registry entries that may lead to unnecessary errors and ultimately PC crashes.
• Forms registry clearing preferences.
• Immediate creation of windows registry back-ups.

Now you know that how important is the registry fix software for your PC. As such grabbing a Window Registry repair freeware is not a tough job. Competition in market favors the customers, thus, leading to the availability of windows registry repair free downloads.

Now, any person can easily avail the facility of Window Registry repair free in return of few minute investments and an access to internet. Many companies are providing these repair software for free, however, they may be the trial packages before the real cost to be paid.

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Author is admin and technical expert associated with development of computer security and performance enhancing software like Registry Cleaner, Anti Spyware, Window Cleaner, Anti Spam Filter. Visit: Home Page. Learn secrets for an efficient Registry Cleaner. Visit PCMantra informative Resource Center to read more about products.

Microsoft Excel offers extremely powerful numerical and statistical data manipulation. However, such a powerful program can seem a little intimidating when all you need are some simple statistical results.

If you are new to Excel, why not take time out to fully explore your Excel window? If you are familiar with Microsoft Word, you will be pleasantly surprised by the similar ‘look and feel’.

You will also recognise the menu bar, formatting toolbar and the help box environment. Slightly less familiar features will include column headings, row headings, cell ranges and worksheet selection tabs. These helpful additions provide much of the back bone to Excel’s success.

Each Excel workbook is divided into worksheets. By default there are three sheets, with sheet one initially active. These sheets can be selected by clicking on the name of the sheet located at the bottom of the booklet.

Each sheet consists of many rows horizontally and columns vertically. Columns are named as alphabetical headings, while rows are numerical. Each row or column consists of a range of cells where data is stored and/or manipulated.

Once you are happy with the Excel layout, we can then delve into the features most useful to the novice user:

1) Basic Formatting
Rows and rows of data can be pretty bland if nothing really stands out. The presentation of data can be as important as the results themselves. An inventory report submitted to a new customer or potential client may only be reviewed initially for a matter of seconds. With a little thought, basic formatting can be used to highlight important areas and automate simple tasks.

If you are familiar with other Microsoft Office programs, you will have seen the formatting toolbar usually found at the top of the application’s screen. You can use this to select a cell range and apply whatever formatting you like.

Simple formatting allows the alteration of cell content. This includes applying different styles and sizes to data. You can also apply default Excel styles such as adding a pound and percentage symbol to cell areas.

The content of the cells can also have shading and borders applied to allow important elements to stand out. Rows and columns can be resized or cells can be automatically adjusted according to their contents. Cell contents can be justified - often good for making headings and content stand out. It doesn’t end here! There are many more formatting features available for you to experiment with.

2) Sorting & Filtering Information
With so many cells it can be a hard job finding and analysing the many rows of data you require - much like finding a needle in a haystack!! Fear not, Excel has prepared for all this and more!

Sorting: Excel allows you to sort data for one or more columns. A basic sort using the Ascending sort (A-Z) or Descending sort (Z-A) would allow data in a column to be reordered alphabetically and numerically, using the appropriate buttons on the standard toolbar.

More advanced sorting tools would allow you to sort by multiple columns. An example of this could be where an estate agent needs to view available houses that have only been on the market in the last week, are located in Surrey and have a garage. This could be done in a painfully manual way by searching and checking each row. Or simply, just sorting by date, then by location and finally by garage for each column heading.

Filtering: Filtering allows you to quickly and easily extract certain data that you do not wish to see. Where as sorting involves the re-arrangement of columns of data. The filtering process allows you to keep all the data in one sheet, but provides views of only the data that you are interested in - sounds great!

For example, a manager may have an excel sheet with hundreds of rows of invoice information. By applying a simple filter to the ‘invoice paid’ column, the manager will be able to see only the invoices that have been paid.

3) Simple Graphs
You know the old saying ‘A picture tells a thousand words’ - well this is true for graphs too and Excel can be used to create just about any type of chart! These include bar, line, pie, scatter or you can even create your own custom graph to meet your specific needs. In terms of presenting data and delivering a quick, clear and meaningful message - a simple graph wins hands down!

Be careful when selecting the graph type. Think about which graph will best represent that data you are capturing and the message you wish to portray. Excel provides a ‘Chart Wizard’ that makes the whole process of creating a graph relatively easy with step-by-step guides. The Chart Wizard can be found in the standard toolbar.

4) Formulas & Functions
They may sound quite scary at first, but they really aren’t once you see a simple example. It is true that formulas are extremely powerful, but you have the choice of the complexity that you wish to use. So why not start simple?

One of the most simple formulas makes use of the add function whereby two cells are added together e.g. ‘=sum(A1+A2)’. You could extend this further to add a whole row ‘=sum(A1:J1)’ or a whole column ‘=sum(A1:A10)’. This is a really handy tool which can be used to summarise totals of rows or columns of data.

Addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and averages are all examples of simple math functions that are built into Excel. There are many more functions available to explore.

We have just gone through the most useful basic features that Excel has to offer, and this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what Excel has to offer! I hope this has given a good insight as to how Microsoft Excel can be most efficiently used. However, reading this article alone will not make you a better Excel user. Training and practice is required to push your Excel skills to the next level.

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Author is a trainer with a Microsoft Office training company, the UK industry leader in its sector. For more information on Microsoft Excel training, visit www.MicrosoftTraining.net.