Remembering those good old tips (oops, I did it again)

For the last 12 months, I've provided you with ideas, tips, tricks, a bit of humor, shopping ideas, comments on popular and inane American culture, and ways to get out of working with difficult people. Since everyone seems to be in shopping list mode—except perhaps our Jewish friends who've already done their shopping since Hanukkah started Wednesday night, or our Type A friends who shopped at last year's after-Christmas sales (both types being lucky, chosen people)—I thought I'd offer up a list of the five MOST popular (perhaps because they're useful?) tips that I came up with the past year. (Yeah, some of these will be repeats for some of you but I'm pretty sure there is at least one thing in here that's new to you.)

Tip #1: Where are my $*#(@)!*? commands in the Ribbon???

Yeah, I know: Things look difference in Office 2010 and Office 2007 if you're upgrading from Office 2003 and prior versions; really different. Here are some resources that I know you'll find invaluable as you make the switch

• Download the 2010 interactive menu to ribbon reference workbooks
• Learn where menu and toolbar commands are in Office 2010
• Use 2003 menus to learn the 2007 interface (This is a good way to learn the 2010 interface as well; most of the features and menus and things are the same)

These guides are visual, interactive tools that help you quickly learn where commands are. SO, um, no more panicking, okay?

Tip # 2: Transposing in Excel

In Excel 2010 and 2007, to transpose data in columns to rows (and vice versa):

1. Select the cells in the row or column you want to change, press Ctrl+C to copy it. (Or on the Home tab in the Clipboard group, clip Copy .)
2. Then, put your cursor in the top cell where you want to transpose the content.
   *IMPORTANT*  Where you place your cursor must fall outside the area from which you've just selected.
3. On the Home tab in the Clipboard group, click the arrow below Paste and then:
   1. In Excel 2010: Click Paste Special, and then click Transpose.
   2. In Excel 2007: Click Transpose.

Tip #3: Page tabs in OneNote

Page tabs appear on the right side of your OneNote notebook by default. To display the page tabs on the left side of your notebook, in the Display category in the Options dialog box (Tools menu), select the Page tabs appear on the left check box.

Tip #5: Minimize don't marginalized the ribbon

No, you CANNOT get rid of the ribbon so STOP asking. However, you CAN make it smaller.

Full Ribbon

Minimized, adorable Ribbon

1. Click Customize Quick Access Toolbar .
2. In the list, click Minimize the Ribbon
3. To use the while it is minimized, click the tab you want to use, and then click the option or command you want to use.
   For example, with the Ribbon minimized, you can select text in your Word document, click the Home tab, and then in the Font group, click the size of the text you want. After you click the text size you want, the Ribbon goes back to being minimized.

Tip #5: Copy Excel values (and ixNay on the ormulasFay)

Sometimes, when you copy the contents of a cell, you want to paste just the value and not the formula that's displayed in the formula bar. Is that such a tall order? Methinks not.

1. On a worksheet, select the cells that contain the resulting values of a formula that you want to copy.
2. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Copy
3. Select the upper-left cell of where you want to paste.
4. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Paste , and then click Paste Values.

Bonus Tip: Copying styles into Excel

When you want to copy content from a Word document, a Web page, or whatever into Excel, and you want that content to have the same formatting as what's already in your Excel spreadsheet, double-click the cell before you paste the content in. (You can also select the cell and press F2.)

(I showed this little gem of a tip to a particularly excitable Frenchman around here, and he nearly hit his tête on the ceiling he was so ecstatic....)

Were these useful to you? Want more? Speak up. If you vote/don't talk to me you can't compain...

Crabby's Find of the Day: Imagine the future of newsstands

— Crabby