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Microsoft Word and Excel tips for busy professionals.

Article Excerpt
Busy professionals sometimes update to new software without the time to explore fully all the new features. The present authors will summarize, in a quick and easy to peruse format, certain features and applications accounting professionals may wish to consider. Some of these tips may work equally as well with earlier versions. Further, note that when users of these tips select a command such as Tools located on the menu toolbar, they may need to wait a few moments for the full submenu of options to appear. Alternatively, users can click the double arrows at the bottom of the menu item such as Tools for the full list of submenu choices to appear. Since some users may not have accessed some submenu options before, the options may be nearer the bottom of the submenu lists.

Research Task Pane Part I (W & E)

Description:

A new online service is the Research Task Pane. One uses this pane to seek quickly research assistance from a dictionary, thesaurus, and encyclopedia.

Actions:

Connect to the Internet. Open a Word or Excel document. Select Tools located on the menu toolbar, choose Research, in the Search for box that appears to the right of your document or spreadsheet, type a word or phase such as unearned income. From the dropdown menu below this box click the down arrow, click a reference book such as Encarta Dictionary: English (North America), if necessary click the green arrow. Review pane outputs. Note in a similar fashion, one can also use the Encarta Encyclopedia, the Thesaurus, or all reference books. To close the Research Task Pane, click the x in the right hand corner of the Research Task Pane.

Results:

The definition of unearned income will appear.

Research Task Pane Part II (W & E)

Description:

A new online service is the Research Task Pane. One uses this pane to seek research assistance from MSN Money Stock Quotes and from Thomson Gale Company Profiles.

Actions:

Connect to the Internet. Open a Word or Excel document. Select Tools located on the menu tool bar, choose Research, in the Search for box that appears to the right of your document or spreadsheet, key a company's call letters such as GE. From the dropdown menu below the box click the down arrow, select a reference such as MSN Money Stock Quotes or Thomson Gale Company Profiles, if necessary click the green arrow.

Results:

Information about the company, General Electric Company, will appear in the Research Pane. From the MSN Money Stock Quotes, with a 20 or more minute delay, users view the stock price high, low, last, and much more. Links to access stock charts also are available. From Thomson Gale Company Profiles, users view the company address, phone, web, ticker, revenue, number of employees, and similar information.

Worksheet Refreshed with Information on Up to 20 Stocks (E)

Description:

One can automatically generate and refresh a worksheet containing recent information on up to 20 stocks.

Actions:

Connect to Internet. Open a new Excel worksheet. Click Al. Select the Data command on the menu bar. Select Import External Data. Select Import Data. Double click MSN MoneyCentral Investor Stock Quotes. Choose the Existing Worksheet...